Hwaseong City Deliberates and Passes 'Carbon Neutrality and Green Growth Master Plan'

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Park Chan-hyuk] Hwaseong Special City held the '2050 Carbon Neutrality and Green Growth Committee' on the 24th at the seminar room of the Hwaseong City Research Institute and deliberated and passed the 'Hwaseong City Carbon Neutrality and Green Growth Master Plan.'

Prior to this, the city held a working-level meeting in January with representatives from 41 departments implementing greenhouse gas reduction projects, and held a public hearing in February to gather public opinions, proceeding with procedures for establishing the master plan.

The master plan deliberated this time is a statutory top-tier plan in accordance with Article 12 of the 'Basic Act on Carbon Neutrality and Green Growth to Combat Climate Crisis,' and the city has set the vision as 'Carbon Neutral Green Transition Climate and Economic Special City, Hwaseong, Moving Together with Citizens.'

The city also set goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% compared to 2018 levels by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.

The greenhouse gas reduction measures to achieve this consist of 104 detailed implementation tasks across 6 sectors—buildings, energy transition, transportation, agriculture (livestock), and waste—including △enhancing green building creation with citizen participation △establishing eco-friendly transportation systems △creating eco-friendly agriculture and fisheries ecosystem foundations △improving carbon-neutral circular economy structure △securing and strengthening regional absorption capacity foundations, and △strengthening eco-friendly energy transition ecosystem.

Major reduction projects include △expanding zero-energy buildings in new public structures △small and medium-scale solar power generation projects △energy self-sufficient village creation projects △eco-friendly vehicle supply projects △low-carbon agriculture program operations, and △resource circulation village creation projects.

Oh Je-hong, the city's Carbon Neutrality Implementation Officer, stated, "This year is a meaningful year in which Hwaseong City is making a leap forward as a city of one million population and establishing its first Carbon Neutrality and Green Growth Master Plan," and added, "Going forward, we will continue to actively respond to climate crisis with our citizens and advance as a special city realizing green transition."