Korea to press K-GX, power vision at COP31 as minister leads delegation

South Korea's environment ministry said Sunday that Environment Minister Kim Sung-hwan will lead the country's delegation to the 31st Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Antalya, Turkey, where Seoul will push its green transition strategy and a global electrification pledge.

COP31 runs from Nov. 9 to 20 at the Antalya Expo Center. Turkey holds the presidency and sets the climate action agenda, while Australia leads negotiations among parties as the talks' negotiating president.

About 100,000 people are expected to attend, including government delegations from the convention's parties. Kim, as chief delegate, will be accompanied by a government team of officials from related ministries and experts, with Kyeon Jong-ho, the foreign ministry's climate change ambassador, serving as alternate chief delegate.

At the center of Seoul's pitch is the "35-by-35 Global Electrification Pledge," which calls for raising electricity to 35 percent of final energy consumption worldwide by 2035, supported by international cooperation on grid expansion and on electrifying industry, transport and buildings.

The talks will cover how to minimize the size and duration of any overshoot of the 1.5-degree Celsius global temperature rise, along with greenhouse gas reduction, climate adaptation, the global stocktake, the just transition, climate finance, loss and damage, and transparency. On adaptation, parties will work to flesh out 59 Belém adaptation indicators.

On finance, negotiators will discuss providing and mobilizing at least $300 billion a year for developing countries' climate response by 2035, and mobilizing at least $1.3 trillion a year from all sources, public and private.

The Korean delegation will promote the country's "K-GX" green transition strategy and its "electric nation" vision, join the 35-by-35 pledge, pursue a memorandum of understanding with Australia on decarbonization, and hold a joint side event with the International Energy Agency called "RISE ASIA." The Korean pavilion will host 51 side events.

"I hope this 31st Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change becomes an occasion to turn the promises of the Paris Agreement into concrete and substantive implementation and to advance climate multilateralism one step further," Kim said. "South Korea will also expand its Korean-style green transition (K-GX) into a global green transition pursued together with the international community and take the lead in implementing the Paris Agreement."