Hong Nam-ki "Climate Response Important This Year... Korea to Promote Carbon Neutrality"

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Sehee] Deputy Prime Minister Hong Nam-ki met with Alok Sharma, Chair of the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), who visited Korea on the 6th, to confirm a consensus on responding to climate change.

On the afternoon of the same day, Deputy Prime Minister Hong met with Chair Sharma, former UK Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, at the Seoul Government Complex to discuss climate change response policies and global cooperation agendas.

COP26 is a ministerial-level meeting related to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change held annually since 1995, and the 26th conference is scheduled to take place in Glasgow, UK, from November 1 to 12.

Chair Sharma concurrently served as the UK Secretary of State for Business and COP26 Chair from February last year but resigned from the ministerial position in January this year to focus solely on the COP26 Chair role. Sharma explained that the UK, as the chair country of COP26 and the G7+3 (G7 member countries plus Korea, Australia, and India) meetings, is promoting measures to raise the 'Nationally Determined Contributions' (NDCs) for greenhouse gas reduction.

The NDC is a plan submitted every five years by all countries under the Paris Agreement, outlining their self-determined contributions to greenhouse gas reduction. Korea has set a target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 24.4% compared to 2017 levels by 2030.

Chair Sharma also emphasized the expansion of financial resources for climate change response and the transition to eco-friendly energy, requesting Korea's interest and participation.

In response, Deputy Prime Minister Hong mentioned that this year, the first year of implementing the Paris Agreement, is a very important period for global climate change response and introduced the '2050 Carbon Neutral Strategy' announced by the Korean government in December last year.

Chair Sharma stressed the expansion of Official Development Assistance (ODA) to support climate change response in developing countries and called for the participation of the international community, including Korea.

Regarding this, Deputy Prime Minister Hong informed that Korea, as the host country of the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the world's largest climate fund, is fulfilling its pledge to contribute 300 million dollars to the GCF. He emphasized plans to actively contribute to climate finance by expanding support in the green ODA sector in the future.

Deputy Prime Minister Hong explained, "As a developing country under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and a contributor to climate finance, Korea can play a bridging role in balancing the positions of both developed and developing countries in international climate change response discussions."