The Ministry of Environment will establish the ‘Climate Crisis Response Team (Response Team)’ to develop climate measures on a whole-of-government basis.
On the 14th, Son Ok-ju, Director General of Planning and Coordination at the Ministry of Environment, announced the ‘Environmental Achievements and Implementation Plans of the Yoon Seok-yeol Administration’ at the Government Complex Sejong, emphasizing, “We plan to establish the Response Team as the command center for climate response to support swift implementation and tangible results.”
The Response Team will be responsible for setting greenhouse gas reduction targets, formulating climate change adaptation measures, and discovering new carbon neutrality projects. Although the Ministry’s Climate Change Policy Division currently oversees related tasks, the Ministry explained that a broader discussion body encompassing other government ministries, affiliated agencies, and industry is necessary.
Ahn Se-chang, Director General of the Climate and Carbon Policy Office at the Ministry of Environment, explained, “Discussions have been somewhat narrow because they focused solely on climate,” adding, “We intend to coordinate with other ministries and affiliated agencies to implement climate policies.” He further elaborated, “Since there was a lack of contact points with industries, the Response Team will collaborate to develop research and development (R&D) and greenhouse gas policies that meet corporate demands.”
The head of the Response Team will be the Director General of the Climate and Carbon Policy Office, and the deputy head will be the Director General of Policy Planning. The Response Team will consist of three teams with seven members, who will be newly recruited rather than reallocating existing personnel.
A platform that allows easy access to climate crisis information will also be created. By 2028, an ‘Integrated Climate Crisis Adaptation Information Platform’ will be established to disclose various information such as climate disasters and changes in agricultural and fishery production. Additionally, the ‘4th National Climate Crisis Adaptation Plan’ will be formulated for 2026?2030, focusing on supporting vulnerable groups affected by climate change to address polarization issues.
Environmental policies will increase ‘customized regulations’ based on local conditions and responsibilities. The plan is to reduce uniform environmental regulations to revitalize regions facing decline due to population decrease and aging.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Environment announced the achievements of environmental policies over the past two years and six months since the launch of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration. The Ministry evaluated that it shifted the water management paradigm to ‘public safety’ and rationally improved uniform environmental regulations. In the green industry sector, orders and exports exceeded 20 trillion won last month.
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