226 Basic Local Governments Worldwide First Simultaneous Climate Crisis Emergency Declaration

Basic Local Governments' Commitment to Curb Global Average Temperature Rise to 1.5℃... Declaring Current Climate Crisis Situation and Resolving Active Response... Urging Government and National Assembly for Climate Crisis Emergency Declaration and National 2050 Carbon Neutrality Goal

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Among the 228 basic local governments nationwide, all 226 basic local governments except for two regions with vacant heads have declared a climate emergency.

On the 5th, 11 organizations including the National Association of Mayors, County Governors, and District Heads, the Climate Crisis Response and Energy Transition Local Governments Association, the Sustainable Development Local Governments Association, and ICLEI Korea Office held a proclamation ceremony for the "Climate Emergency Declaration of Basic Local Governments in the Republic of Korea."

At this proclamation ceremony, they declared ▲ that now is a climate emergency ▲ set and actively implement greenhouse gas reduction targets to limit the temperature rise to 1.5℃ ▲ demand that the government and the National Assembly declare a climate emergency and announce national carbon neutrality by 2050 ▲ resolve to establish and gradually implement plans to expand renewable energy and achieve energy self-sufficiency ▲ declare to create and responsibly promote an institutional framework to overcome sustainability crises together with citizens.

About 150 people attended the proclamation ceremony held in the main conference room of the National Assembly Members' Office Building, including mayors, county governors, and district heads from about 30 regions, National Assembly members Han Jeong-ae (co-chair of the National Assembly Climate Change Forum), Kim Seong-hwan (head of the Korean New Deal TF of the Democratic Party's COVID-19 National Crisis Response Committee), Yang I-won-young, Kim Young-bae, Lee Yong-bin, Heo Young, Lee So-young, Minister of Environment Cho Myung-rae, and Kim Je-nam, Secretary for Climate and Environment at the Presidential Secretariat.

Since the 48th Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) meeting held in Songdo, Incheon in 2018 adopted the "Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5℃," local governments worldwide have been leading climate crisis responses by declaring climate emergencies. However, this is the world's first time that more than 200 local governments have simultaneously declared a climate emergency as in this declaration.

Moreover, local governments recognize that now is a climate emergency and express their willingness to take a leading role in overcoming the crisis, actively urging the central government and the National Assembly to establish proactive climate policies, which is highly significant.

In particular, attention is focused on whether this can serve as an opportunity to raise the targets of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) to be submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) by the end of this year to align with the 1.5℃ scenario and include a national carbon neutrality plan in the 2050 Long-term Low Carbon Development Strategy (LEDS).

Yeom Tae-young, Chairperson of the National Association of Mayors, County Governors, and District Heads (Mayor of Suwon), expressed expectations for local governments' climate actions, saying, "This year, the government has presented the Green New Deal as an important post-COVID task, and I believe local governments will propose new directions for climate emergency responses and create field-oriented policies in their regions."

Kim Hong-jang, Chairperson of the Climate Crisis Response and Energy Transition Local Governments Association (Mayor of Dangjin), stated, "With the energy sector accounting for 86% of greenhouse gas emissions, reducing greenhouse gases without energy transition is impossible and is nothing but an empty slogan," adding, "We will embrace the historic mission of responding to the climate crisis and energy transition."

Lee Dong-jin, Chairperson of the Sustainable Development Local Governments Association (District Head of Dobong-gu), actively expressed his will, saying, "Properly responding to the climate crisis and building a healthy foundation for sustainable development of our society is the responsibility of the 'public.' When the state and local governments cooperate proactively, citizens will also have the courage to willingly accept the inconveniences they must endure to overcome the climate crisis."

Lee Yoo-jin, Co-Chairperson of the National Network for Regional Energy Transition, argued that energy decentralization and local autonomy should be linked to the Green New Deal to implement policies in regions that reduce greenhouse gases, address job issues, and resolve inequality. After the declaration, she forecasted regional policies, stating that through experiences of creating successful policy cases locally, stronger decentralization can respond to the climate crisis.

The co-hosting and organizing institutions of this proclamation ceremony, including the National Association of Mayors, County Governors, and District Heads, unanimously emphasized that the implementation process in the regions after the declaration is important. They will first convey the determination of basic local governments to central ministries, the 21st National Assembly, and the Blue House, urging national carbon neutrality by 2050, and plan to produce and distribute a guidebook to enable implementation in the regions after the declaration.

This process will be conducted in the form of discussions involving various stakeholders such as local citizens, climate and energy experts, businesses, local councils, and basic local governments, and they stated that they will continuously monitor and check the central government's policy responses while cooperating.