Seoul City Calls for Citizen Ideas to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions... 180 Million KRW Support

5 Sectors Including Green Building, Green Mobility, Green Forest, Green Energy, and Green Cycle

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Seoul, which declared itself a ‘carbon-neutral city by 2050,’ is soliciting ideas from citizens to proactively realize this goal. Additionally, it will select citizens and civic groups to develop and implement greenhouse gas reduction measures, supporting them with a project budget of 180 million KRW this year.

On the 4th, Seoul announced that it is recruiting for the ‘Carbon Neutral Citizen Practice Project,’ which calls for citizen action ideas in five key areas to reduce greenhouse gases: Green Building (buildings), Green Mobility (transportation), Green Forest (park city), Green Energy (renewable energy), and Green Cycle (resource circulation). It is also recruiting organizations to support education and promotional activities to expand these efforts through the ‘Participating Organization Support Project.’

The ‘Participating Organization Support Project’ is open only to organizations. The ‘Carbon Neutral Citizen Practice Project,’ aligned with the purpose of citizen cooperation projects, allows participation not only from organizations (nonprofit private organizations, nonprofit corporations, social cooperatives) but also from general citizens (citizen groups of three or more).

The ‘Carbon Neutral Citizen Practice Project’ supports the discovery and implementation of creative citizen action ideas in the five key areas through an open call. It will select and support approximately 14 individuals or groups who practice resource circulation culture such as expanding solar power generation and reducing food waste, or who implement greenhouse gas reduction measures such as spreading renewable energy. Applications are accepted separately by the five areas, and participants may choose one or multiple categories.

The ‘Participating Organization Support Project’ will select one organization to receive a budget of 30 million KRW. This project will provide administrative support such as education and consulting, promotional support, and performance archiving to strengthen the capabilities of organizations participating in greenhouse gas reduction projects.

The project period runs from April to November, and organizations performing the Carbon Neutral Citizen Practice Project this year will be selected through evaluation by the Seoul City Subsidy Review Committee. Applications can be registered online from the 17th to the 26th.

Kim Yeon-ji, Director of the Environmental Citizen Cooperation Division of Seoul City, stated, "It is no exaggeration to say that the success of Seoul’s 2050 greenhouse gas reduction policy depends on citizen participation." She added, "We hope that the Carbon Neutral Citizen Practice Project, which puts citizens’ ideas into action, will become the cornerstone for spreading Seoul’s 2050 greenhouse gas reduction strategy among citizens," urging interest and participation.