[Interview] Oh Seung-rok, Mayor of Nowon District, "Making Nowon the No.1 Carbon Neutral City"

The Only 'Carbon Neutral Leading City' in the Capital Region Selected... Notable Carbon Neutral Roadmap in Architecture and Citizen Participation Activation... Leading Carbon Neutrality with Policy Development and Public-Private Cooperation Since Reelection in the 8th Term... Declared a 'Bicycle-Friendly City'... Focus on Becoming the Top Carbon Neutral Local Government

On the 31st of last month, good news was delivered to Oh Seung-rok, the Mayor of Nowon-gu, who was preparing for the ‘Bicycle-Friendly City Declaration Ceremony and International Symposium’ event. Four local governments were selected as targets for the carbon-neutral leading city creation project promoted by the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and Nowon-gu in Seoul was the only one selected in the metropolitan area.

Mayor Oh introduced the vision of a carbon-neutral leading city and a bicycle-friendly city in detail through an interview with this paper.

Although many local governments participated in the carbon-neutral leading city contest, the key factor that made Nowon the final winner and the biggest difference from other selected local governments is interpreted as the carbon-neutral promotion strategy in the building sector. Mayor Oh said, “There is a statistic that 68.3% of greenhouse gas emissions come from buildings. Without including buildings, the effectiveness of strategies to advance the carbon-neutral era inevitably decreases,” adding, “If zero-energy buildings are successfully introduced in Nowon, which has the highest proportion of aged housing over 30 years in Seoul, the policy effects will smoothly spread when reconstructing infrastructure in various metropolitan cities in the future.”

In fact, the district established the ‘Nowon-gu Public Building Zero-Energy Building Roadmap,’ which advances the mandatory implementation of zero-energy buildings (ZEB) ahead of the government roadmap, and has been applying it since last year. Currently, major public building construction projects such as the Taereung Eoullim Center are being promoted reflecting the ZEB Grade 4 standards. Furthermore, the private building ZEB roadmap is also being promoted faster and stronger than the central government, and the ‘Kwangwoon University Station Area Development Project,’ the largest local development project, applied the ZEB Grade 5 standard for the first time in the private sector. The district is also preparing separate guidelines including incentives for future reconstruction and redevelopment projects.

Mayor Oh’s sincere dedication to carbon-neutral policies began with the start of his second term in the 8th local government. Despite maintaining the solar power generation support project, which the central government and other local governments gradually lost interest in, Mayor Oh expressed some regrets about the environmental sector during his first term in the 7th local government. In the first organizational reform of the 8th local government, he upgraded the existing environmental department to the ‘Carbon Neutral Promotion Team’ directly under the Deputy Mayor, the first of its kind nationwide, and began drawing the policy blueprint. The Carbon Neutral Promotion Team works together throughout the entire process, including policy discovery expertise, a cooperative system encompassing public and private sectors, support for projects of various district departments and private activities, as well as project evaluation and feedback, through the ‘Nowon Environmental Foundation,’ the first in Seoul’s autonomous districts, and the newly opened ‘Nowon-gu Carbon Neutral Support Center’ this year.

Last year, the Carbon Neutral Promotion Team formed and operated the ‘Carbon Neutral 2050 Residents’ Council,’ a public-private consultative body based on resident participation, and gave significant attention to effective citizen participation activation plans in the current ‘Leading City’ promotion plan. These include a profit-sharing SPC and citizen-participatory carbon forests, and to secure expertise, they have established a cooperative system with eight institutions including Korea Electric Power Corporation and Seoul National University of Science and Technology.

While the district, which has strengthened its policy planning capabilities, expands the scope of the public-private cooperation system, various ideas are pouring out, such as the ‘Net-Zero Event Guide’ and ‘One Million Trees Planting’ projects, which started as pilot applications this year and will be fully implemented from next year at the district level, as well as the ‘Top 10 Carbon Neutral Practice Rules Selected with Residents,’ which individuals can participate in.

Mayor Oh revealed his philosophy, saying, “Citizen participation is key in the carbon-neutral field. To unite a community that participates easily and enjoyably while thinking and practicing together, we must show tangible effects.”

When asked if there is a plan to encourage participation ‘easily and enjoyably,’ Mayor Oh pointed to ‘bicycles’ as the core. Bicycles, as an easily accessible means of transportation, are simultaneously fun and a medium through which individuals can feel a sense of efficacy while improving their health.

Having previously enrolled in the ‘Nowon-gu Residents Bicycle Safety Insurance,’ the first among Seoul’s autonomous districts, the district is now creating the city’s first ‘Bicycle Culture Center.’ Scheduled for completion in 2026, this center will serve as an outpost for spreading proper bicycle culture, equipped with a miniature bicycle exhibition caf?, a VR bicycle experience hall, and a multipurpose education hall. It also provides free steam cleaning services for bicycle users, has showcased unique bicycle experiences at ‘Car-Free Street Events,’ and has meticulously carried out niche projects such as free collection of abandoned bicycles at home and their rebirth as refurbished bicycles.

Now, the district is declaring itself a ‘Bicycle-Friendly City’ and presenting a vision including ▲building infrastructure for a ‘10-minute bicycle city,’ ▲increasing the bicycle transportation mode share by 10%, and ▲constructing large-scale bicycle parking lots at transfer station hubs.

Earlier this year, Mayor Oh benchmarked excellent cases from Germany and the Netherlands and explored ‘eco-friendly architecture, transportation, and energy.’ The results, presented at the recent international symposium hosted by the district, are expected to manifest as more advanced outcomes in Nowon by meeting domestic and international policy cases.

Mayor Oh Seung-rok said, “For us living in an era of climate disasters that have already become a reality, ‘carbon neutrality’ is the only path toward the future and also an uncertain one. If all our residents move forward on that path together by riding bicycles, we will be able to pioneer an easier and more solid path.”