Oh Se-hoon Attends New York C40 Meeting... Introduces Seoul Policies Including Climate Companion Card

Seoul City Reduces Greenhouse Gas Emissions by 13% Over 15 Years
Introducing Food Waste Recycling and Eco Mileage

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon highlighted the achievements of Seoul's climate crisis response policies in major cities worldwide and introduced the meaning and vision of the newly launched 'Climate Companion Card' project.

On the 19th (local time), Mayor Oh attended the 'C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group (hereafter C40) Steering Committee Meeting' held at the Plaza Hotel in New York, USA. It was his first participation in a C40 meeting as Seoul mayor in 14 years since 2009.

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon is speaking at the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group Steering Committee meeting held in New York, USA, on the 19th (local time).

C40 is a coalition of major cities worldwide whose mayors lead efforts to tackle the climate crisis. The C40 Steering Committee is the highest leadership group consisting of 16 mayors elected by member cities’ votes, leading missions such as achieving the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global temperature rise to within 1.5℃, protecting citizens from the climate crisis, and spearheading a just energy transition.

Held in conjunction with the UN Climate Summit, this meeting brought together nine city mayors, including Mayor Oh, the C40 East (South) Asia and Oceania regional representative, as well as mayors from London, Paris, Milan, and others, to discuss cooperation measures to protect cities from the climate crisis.

Mayor Oh introduced Seoul’s achievement of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 13% over the past 15 years (2005?2020) and shared key policy examples. Since 1998, Seoul has implemented separate collection of food waste and recycled 100% of the collected food waste, reducing 450,000 tons of greenhouse gases annually.

Alongside this, Mayor Oh promoted the 'Eco Mileage' program, which provides benefits to citizens who practice daily greenhouse gas reduction such as saving electricity and water and using public transportation instead of private cars, emphasizing the need for incentive systems to spread an energy-saving culture. The Eco Mileage program, launched by Seoul in 2009, currently has 2.45 million participants, accounting for one-quarter of all Seoul citizens.

Over the past 13 years, Seoul has reduced a cumulative total of 2.26 million tons of greenhouse gases (approximately 200,000 tons annually) through this program, an effect equivalent to creating a forest about 600 times the size of New York’s Central Park.

Furthermore, Mayor Oh explained the meaning and vision of the 'Unlimited Public Transportation Use' Climate Companion Card, recently announced to be implemented from next year, and stated, "We will widely share Seoul’s experiences with member cities and invest in related technologies to take the lead in solving climate crisis issues."

On the 20th, Mayor Oh also participated in the UN Climate Summit’s Credibility Matters session held at the UN Headquarters Economic and Social Council Chamber in New York, discussing greenhouse gas reduction and protection measures for socially vulnerable groups amid the climate crisis.

Mayor Oh said, "When Seoul strongly conveys the feeling that many enjoyable things happen here and that it is a city where people can live happily, more foreigners will want to visit, invest, and live here. I have already seen the potential as people seem to feel familiar with Seoul My Soul. I expect that once we officially launch the brand, it will create a significant impact."