The government is making a strong push for construction of a system which will lead to a low carbon-type of production and consumption, a top government official in charge of the environment said.
"To effectively cope with the crisis stemming from climate change, the government is pushing ahead with expanding a carbon labeling system and introducing a certification system for environment-friendly structures in the production stage," Minister of Environment Lee Man-eui said.
Noting that the number of carbon labeling products soared from 84 in 2009 to 181 in May 2010, he said that the ministry will expand the system further this year to improve the environment.
"Along with this, the ministry plans to make it obligatory for public buildings on space of over 10,000 square meters to receive an environment-friendly certification and reduce charges for improvement of the environment for the buildings that obtained the certification," said the minister.
"To this end, the ministry has already implemented a "carbon point" system, which offers incentives to households that reduced greenhouse gas, in the consumption stage," he explained.
The number of local governments carrying out the carbon point system increased from 170 in 2009 to 232 in 2010. Thanks to the introduction of the system, some 2 million households reduced 420,000 tons of CO2.
"In the transportation sector, we will set a guideline on car-related fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas for gradual implementation in 2012, along with supply of green cars," said the minister.
"At the same time, the ministry will stage the "me first" campaign through the private-government partnership to encourage people to carry out 'green' life and increase the number of 'green leaders' playing a leading role for the campaign to 10,000 in 2010," said Lee.
Program to eliminate environment-related diseases
Commenting that there are growing concerns about environment-related diseases, including atopy and asthma. Minister Lee said the ministry is actively promoting a program to prevent and root out such diseases.
"For instance, we conduct a basic survey of all people in the national environment and their health once every three years and carry out an epidemiological survey of residents living in environmentally vulnerable regions, including industrial estates and mines across the country, to grasp the damage resulting from a bad environment," he said.
The ministry is also implementing a health effect survey of such sensitive populations such as children, infants and pregnant women and mapping out proper countermeasures, he said.
"We are also supporting the setup of atopic dermatitis eco-care centers to provide children suffering from atopic dermatitis with proper environments and education, while implementing a variety of programs to prevent such diseases, including a "science camp for a health recovery" and a "campaign to create a health forest," Lee said.
Role of Environment Ministry to enhance national competitiveness
When asked about the role of the environment ministry to bolster national competitiveness, Minister Lee said, "The ministry should offer a pleasant and safe environment to all people across the country."
"First of all, the ministry should rationalize environmental regulations to improve the corporate environment and reduce people's inconveniences. Related to this, we will adopt flexible regulatory methods and allow general people to participate in the process of establishing environmental policy," said Lee.
Minister Lee also said the ministry will enhance efficiency of its subsidiary institutions and organizations, not to mention itself, in keeping with the persistent innovation flow in the public sector.
"Finally, we will strengthen environmental health policy to protect people's health from environmental and hazardous substances such as atopic dermatitis, asbestos fiber and radon,' said the minister.
He also said that enterprises need to expand investment for development of green technology under the recognition that green investment is a pivotal factor to upgrade their global competitiveness on a long-term basis.
Korea's future vision
Stressing the necessity of coexistence of environment and economy in the climate change crisis around the globe cannot be avoided, Minister Lee said, "The low carbon and green growth policy suggested by President Lee Myung-bak in 2008 is the right answer to achieve the vision."
Lee said Korea has already secured global leadership as a green growth leading country and initiated the OECD's 2009 adoption of the Green Growth Declaration based on its green growth-propelling experiences.
In April 2010, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) announced a report on Korea's green growth policy, highly appraising the nation's policy as a good example leading the green economy.
Commenting that Korea is classified as a developing country under the climate change agreement, Minister Lee said it is difficult for the nation to continue keeping the status of developing country in the future considering that Korea ranked 10th in the world in output of greenhouse gas in 2005, secured the 15th position in economic volume and entered ranks of the global top 10 in trade volumes.
"Meanwhile, I think the global trend will not permit Korea to continue economic growth in the carbon-intensive method of the past. Accordingly, we need to pursue economic growth through the new method of low carbon and green growth and enter the ranks of advanced environmental countries," he said.
"As a concrete step, the ministry has suggested a plan to reduce greenhouse gas based on the Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Action. Along with this, we are pushing ahead with establishing the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) to attain the target of low carbon and green growth. In particular, we will exert best efforts to host the 18th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to be held in 2012 based our such efforts," said the minister.
