Suwon Mayor Lee Jae-jun: "Most Necessary for Carbon Neutrality is Change in Citizens' Actions"

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Jung Jun-sung] Suwon Metropolitan Mayor Lee Jae-jun stated that "the most necessary thing for realizing carbon neutrality is a change in the behavior of each and every citizen."

The Mayor said this at the "Carbon Neutrality Policy and Implementation, Suwon City 2050 Carbon Neutrality Citizen Forum Drawing with Saebich (Citizens)" held at the Suwon Convention Center on the 5th, adding "I ask all citizens participating in this forum to take the lead in carbon neutrality action with the sense of mission as a 'climate change committee member'" and emphasized "let's create the good proposals that come out of today's forum together as policy."

The forum, which consisted of keynote presentations by topic, group discussions, presentation of discussion results, and a talk concert featuring Mayor Lee Jae-jun and Professor Kim Jung-in (Chung-Ang University, overall planner for greenhouse gas sector in Suwon City's carbon-neutral green city project), was attended by about 120 people including citizens, environmental organization officials, and practitioners.

Choi Seok-hwan, Director of the Urban Space Research Center at the Suwon Research Institute, who presented "Suwon's Direction for Promoting Carbon Neutral Green Cities," presented carbon neutral green city projects including △creation of a plus-energy administrative town △energy self-reliant villages △expansion of carbon absorption sources/climate change adaptation △promotion of resource circulation △social transition programs.

Dr. Park Jae-hyeon of the Carbon Zero Energy Center at Ajou University, who presented "The Journey of Citizen-Participatory 2050 Carbon Neutrality," stated, "Carbon neutrality is a task we must certainly achieve for the future of us," and emphasized "our actions and choices can change when we warn with accurate data and figures."

He continued, "the carbon monitoring platform expresses the actual amount of carbon emissions in real-time through data and figures," and said "carbon reduction status must be directly conveyed so citizens can feel it."

At today's forum, Suwon City shared its carbon neutrality policies for implementing "2050 Carbon Neutrality," a global task, and discussed citizen action tasks for realizing carbon neutrality.

The discussion was divided into 13 groups. The discussion topics were 8 areas including △energy △transportation △carbon absorption sources △resource circulation △climate change adaptation △carbon neutrality citizen education △action.

After the discussion, citizens proposed various ideas for realizing carbon neutrality, including △making climate education mandatory in schools △expanding bicycle-only roads △creating green spaces by utilizing vacant land △installing closable refrigeration doors in open-concept fresh food sections of large marts △preserving existing green spaces such as Hwangguji Stream and Chilbo Mountain △relaxing installation standards for mini solar power generation systems △pilot construction of administrative welfare centers as plus-energy buildings △purchasing products from companies contributing to carbon neutrality.

In particular, many opinions were raised that "an environment should be created where citizens can easily use eco-friendly transportation."

The city plans to have relevant departments review the results of today's discussion and citizens' proposals and reflect them in Suwon City's comprehensive carbon neutrality plan. It also plans to announce "Suwon Metropolitan City's Vision for Implementing 2050 Carbon Neutrality."

Meanwhile, the city was selected as a target site for the "Carbon Neutral Green City Project" led by the Ministry of Environment last year and is promoting the project in the Gosaeok-dong area of Gwonseon-gu. The carbon neutral green city project, with the vision of "Suwon City: Korea's Number One Carbon Neutral City Growing through Green Economy," aims to develop the Gosaeok-dong area, where residential areas, commercial districts, administrative towns, industrial facilities, and environmental facilities are located, into a "carbon neutral green city."

Mayor Lee Jae-jun said, "As I listened to the presentation of the discussion results, I felt that each and every citizen is a carbon neutrality expert," and "I will frequently hold discussions like today's and continuously gather citizen opinions."

He added, "Please become climate change committee members and carbon neutrality practice instructors and spread actions for carbon neutrality practice throughout the region."