Paju City Wins Both Minister of Environment Award and Manifesto Grand Prize for RE100 Achievements

Paju City in Gyeonggi Province announced on the 28th that it achieved a remarkable feat by simultaneously receiving the Minister of Environment Award at the 'VISION 2035! Grand Transition Forum on Climate Crisis' and the Grand Prize in the Climate, Environment, and Ecology category at the '2025 National Local Government Manifesto Best Practices Competition' on the 24th, in recognition of its outstanding achievements in the RE100 energy transition policy.

Gyeongil Kim, Mayor of Paju City (center), was recognized for outstanding achievements in the RE100 policy for energy transition on the 24th, receiving the Minister of Environment Award at the 'VISION 2035! Climate Crisis Great Transition Forum' and the Grand Prize in the Climate, Environment, and Ecology category at the '2025 National Basic Local Government Manifesto Best Practices Competition.' Provided by Paju City

First, the 'VISION 2035! Grand Transition Forum on Climate Crisis,' held at Suwon Convention Center and supported by the Ministry of Environment, served as a venue to identify and share exemplary policy cases of local governments leading the response to the climate crisis and energy transition. The event was hosted by the Council of Local Governments for Climate Crisis Response and Energy Transition (with Suwon Special City as the chair city). The Ministry of Environment highly praised the originality and effectiveness of Paju's RE100 policy, which is based on mutual cooperation between businesses and citizens, and awarded the Minister's Award.

On the same day, the '2025 National Local Government Manifesto Best Practices Competition' was held at Andong Campus of Kyungpook National University, where 159 local governments from across the country participated and presented a total of 191 outstanding policy cases. Among these, Paju City received the Grand Prize for presenting a policy case that demonstrated remarkable innovation and tangible results in the field of climate, environment, and ecology.

The major policies presented by Paju City at these two events included: ▲Establishing the nation's first RE100 support team and enacting an RE100 ordinance at the basic local government level ▲Supplying public renewable energy direct power purchase agreements (PPAs) to small and medium-sized enterprises for the first time in the country ▲Promoting the designation of a distributed energy specialized zone to realize a basic society and basic energy ▲Expanding citizen-centered policies such as citizen-participatory solar power plants and training RE100 citizen instructors ▲Strengthening international cooperation by attending the ICLEI World Congress of Local and Regional Governments for Climate. This multi-layered and comprehensive approach was recognized as an exemplary case of local government energy transition policy.

Mayor Kim Kyoungil stated, "It is very meaningful and a great honor to receive two prestigious awards in one day," and emphasized, "This achievement is a joint result accomplished by citizens, businesses, and the local government together. We will continue to expand and develop basic energy policies through collaboration between the public and private sectors, setting a new standard for energy transition in Korea."