President Moon Attends Energy and Climate Forum Hosted by President Biden

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] On the evening of the 17th Korean time, President Moon Jae-in attended the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate (MEF) at the invitation of U.S. President Joe Biden.

The MEF is a forum launched by the United States in 2009 to ensure the successful hosting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties and to promote greenhouse gas reduction and clean energy dissemination. It was suspended during the Trump administration but revived under President Biden. An MEF session was also held at the Climate Leaders Summit in April.

The purpose of this forum, held six weeks before the 26th UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP26), was to urge the establishment of concrete climate change response measures, including achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 and raising the 2030 Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

During the closed-door virtual meeting, President Moon emphasized the need for international cooperation to address the climate crisis amid the COVID-19 pandemic and expressed South Korea’s commitment to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.

President Moon reaffirmed that South Korea became the 14th country in the world to legally define carbon neutrality with the enactment of the "Carbon Neutrality Basic Act" last month, and that the "2050 Carbon Neutrality Scenario" will be finalized next month, with an enhanced 2030 NDC to be announced at COP26 in November.

He also stated that through hosting COP28 in 2023, South Korea intends to play a more active role in achieving carbon neutrality.

The Blue House evaluated, "This forum further strengthened the momentum of the international community’s response to climate change and served as an opportunity for major country leaders to discuss not only raising national greenhouse gas reduction targets but also more concrete implementation measures for actual reductions." It added, "Our government once again declared a strong commitment to 2050 carbon neutrality and the enhancement of the 2030 NDC to the international community, and will continue to strengthen climate leadership even after this forum."