Gangnam-gu Introduces "Paperless Smart Meetings"
Aiming for Carbon Neutrality by Sharing Meeting Materials on Tablet PCs
Starting this month, Gangnam-gu in Seoul will introduce "paperless smart meetings" for committee meetings in each department. Instead of traditional paper documents, meeting materials will be shared using tablet PCs. The district aims to enhance administrative efficiency and simultaneously pursue carbon neutrality through this initiative.
Before each meeting, departments will borrow tablets and download meeting materials via cloud services or email. This approach reduces the use of paper and toner, and saves manpower and time required for printing and distribution. Gangnam-gu expects significant resource savings by applying this method to more than 10 committee meetings held every month.
If printing is unavoidable, the district will adhere to carbon-neutral printing guidelines, such as using eco-fonts (environmentally friendly typefaces), double-sided and black-and-white printing. Tumblers will be provided in meeting rooms to minimize the use of disposable items. Reducing the use of a single sheet of A4 paper can save approximately 24.48g of carbon dioxide emissions and 10 liters of water, while using a laptop for one hour emits only about 1/30 of the carbon emissions compared to printing one sheet of paper.
Considering these effects, the district aims to eliminate paper use entirely in all future committee meetings. Since 2023, Gangnam-gu has expanded various carbon-neutral policies, such as discouraging the use of disposable cups within government buildings and implementing a refundable deposit system for reusable cups.
Cho Sungmyung, Mayor of Gangnam-gu, stated, "We will expand paperless smart meetings to establish a culture of practicing carbon neutrality throughout the organization," and added, "We will continue to implement comprehensive carbon-neutral policies, ranging from changes in daily habits to innovative policies, to make Gangnam a leading eco-friendly city."
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