Finance minister pitches Korean green transition, carbon market at GGGI summit

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lee Hyung-il presented the government's green transition strategy and a plan for an internationally verified carbon market at a Global Green Growth Institute summit in Seoul, pitching climate action as a source of growth rather than a cost.

Lee told the GGGW Summit at the Westin Josun Seoul that carbon neutrality should feed a virtuous cycle of new growth engines and quality jobs, and that his government had drawn up a Korean-style green grand transition, or K-GX, strategy to that end. He said Seoul would strengthen cooperation with the Global Green Growth Institute so that the model can become a template for international efforts to tackle the climate crisis and pursue economic growth together.

"It is difficult to succeed in responding to the climate crisis with the old approach that treats environmental protection and economic growth as conflicting goals," Lee said. "I believe that perception now needs to change."

The strategy goes beyond emissions cuts, he said, to a wholesale overhaul of Korea's economic base. "Through the K-GX strategy, the goal is to leap forward as a green manufacturing powerhouse by fully reorganizing Korea's economic constitution beyond responding to the climate crisis."

At the center of the pitch is the Global Verified Carbon Market, or GVCM, which Lee described as a new model for promoting greenhouse gas reductions and wider private investment.

Kim Sang-hyup, secretary-general of the Global Green Growth Institute, said the organization would work to expand green investment results through the Korea Green New Deal Trust Fund and to spread a high-integrity carbon credit system and infrastructure to developing countries through the GVCM.

The summit was held on the sidelines of the institute's annual Global Green Growth Week, which runs from Oct. 26 to 30. Among those attending were Ban Ki-moon, the institute's president, Climate, Energy and Environment Minister Kim Sung-hwan, Global Climate and Environment Ambassador Kang Kyung-wha and Zambia's Green Economy and Environment Minister Gilbert Siame.

Lee closed by asking the international community for solidarity and cooperation, saying no single country can meet the challenge alone.