Local governments across South Korea, including Suwon, declare '2050 carbon neutrality'

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Jung Jun-sung] A total of 243 metropolitan and municipal governments, including Suwon City, declared ‘2050 carbon neutrality’ at a ‘Special Session on Carbon Neutrality Implementation’ held ahead of the ‘2021 P4G Seoul Summit.’

Mayor Yeom Tae-young participated online in the ‘carbon neutrality declaration ceremony’ at the P4G ‘Special Session on Carbon Neutrality Implementation,’ which was held on the 24th in both in-person and online formats by the Ministry of Environment and the ‘Carbon Neutrality Local Government Action Coalition.’

Mayor Yeom Tae-young, co-chair of the ‘Carbon Neutrality Local Government Action Coalition,’ signed the ‘2050 Carbon Neutrality Joint Declaration’ in the name of ‘all local governments of the Republic of Korea.’ All metropolitan and municipal governments nationwide participated in the declaration.

Local governments nationwide declared that they will ▲realize carbon neutrality by 2050, ▲prioritize the discovery and support of projects for carbon neutrality, and ▲take the lead in implementing and promoting climate action for carbon neutrality.

‘Carbon neutrality’ refers to reducing greenhouse gas emissions that cause global temperature rise as much as possible and increasing carbon sinks such as forests to bring net greenhouse gas emissions to ‘zero.’

The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), a specialized organization in the field of climate change, has published research reports stating that all countries worldwide must achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 to maintain global average temperature increases within 1.5℃.

The European Union, the United States, Japan, and other nations have declared 2050 carbon neutrality, and Korea also declared carbon neutrality last October.

Mayor Yeom Tae-young said, “The 2050 carbon neutrality joint declaration is the world’s first case where all local governments within a nation have declared carbon neutrality,” adding, “I hope the 2021 P4G Seoul Summit becomes a historic turning point that consolidates the international community’s will toward carbon neutrality and promotes action.”

Since declaring itself an ‘Environmental Capital’ in 2011, Suwon City has established a ‘greenhouse gas inventory (a statistical system that identifies greenhouse gas emission sources and catalogs emissions by each source)’ and has proactively pursued greenhouse gas management policies. Under its own ordinance, it has established a ‘comprehensive climate change response plan’ every five years and built the nation’s largest-scale electric bus charging infrastructure.

Additionally, through projects such as ‘Suwon-style hydrogen ecosystem development’ and establishment of ‘sharing solar power plants,’ it has expanded renewable energy and pursued strategic projects reflecting regional characteristics, including green building support projects, green curtain projects, and resource circulation policies, achieving a 16.4% reduction in per capita greenhouse gas emissions in 2019 compared to 2005.

Furthermore, Suwon reports a climate action report to the international community annually and receives verification of implementation performance, earning official certification from ‘Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy (GCoM),’ the world’s largest local government council on climate change response.

Based on the ‘Basic Strategy for Creating 2050 Carbon Neutrality’ established last April, Suwon City plans to develop a ‘Suwon-style carbon-neutral city model’ this year and establish a ‘2050 Carbon Neutrality Basic Plan’ including a phased implementation roadmap to strengthen efforts toward carbon neutrality.

An official of Suwon City said, “The greenhouse gas reduction policy based on greenhouse gas inventory that Suwon City has pursued is evaluated as an excellent case reflecting the core values of the new climate regime,” adding, “We will continue to take the lead in achieving the ultimate goal of ‘2050 carbon neutrality.’”

‘P4G’ is an acronym for ‘Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals 2030,’ meaning ‘partnership for green growth and global goals 2030.’ It is a global consultative body where government agencies and private sectors (businesses and civil society) participate as partners to respond to climate change and achieve sustainable development goals.

The P4G Seoul Summit, hosted by the Korean government, will be held from May 30-31 under the theme of ‘Realizing the carbon neutrality vision through inclusive green recovery.’ Ten special sessions will be held during the preliminary events (Green Future Week) from May 24-29.