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| Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon talks about the Seoul Green New Deal during a press conference at the Seoul City Hall, Wednesday. /Yonhap |
By Kim Se-jeong
Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon unveiled the city's version of the Green New Deal, Wednesday, pledging to spend 2.6 trillion won ($2.1 billion) by 2022 to create 26,000 jobs and combat the climate crisis at the same time.
"We're at a crossroads. With the Green New Deal, Seoul is taking big steps to transition to a net-zero emissions economy in 2050," Mayor Park said during a press conference.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said humanity must cut carbon emissions to net-zero by 2050 to keep global warming at a 1.5 degrees Celsius increase or less. Scientists warn of detrimental consequences if the goal isn't met.
Seoul's announcement is in accordance with the Korean government's own Green New Deal whose detail will come next week.
Almost half of the city's budget will be spent on promoting construction businesses that construct carbon-neutral buildings. Buildings are blamed as the No.1 greenhouse gases emission source in Seoul, accounting for 68.2 percent of the city's annual emissions.
According to the plan, new buildings will have a net-zero emission requirement starting in 2023. New public buildings are already required to follow the rule.
Also, the local government is working to introduce a greenhouse gas cap system for buildings, which will allocate the maximum amount of greenhouse gases that a building can emit. The city will start running the scheme on major public buildings next year and expand it to private buildings from 2022.
Renovating old buildings is also critical and the city, according to the plan, will increase subsidies and support for private homeowners to use building materials that reduce greenhouse gas emissions in renovations.
Another big chunk of the budget will be spent on promoting vehicles running on electricity and hydrogen.
Seoul has almost 3.1 million registered vehicles and emissions from vehicles account for 19.4 percent of the city's total.
According to the plan, the city will make it mandatory for public organizations and taxi and bus companies to purchase clean vehicles.
For bus companies, the obligation will come into effect next year, while for taxi companies, it will start in 2030. For public vehicles, the city already has the rule in place, requiring public organizations to purchase new sedans that run on electricity or hydrogen. But starting 2025, the regulation will cover all types of public vehicles. The city will also spend money on building more charging stations for drivers here, according to the plan.
Meanwhile, almost 162 million won will be spent on reducing waste and increasing recycling, according to the plan.
A portion of city's waste is currently shipped to and buried at a landfill site near Incheon, and the city is projecting to reduce it to zero by 2025 by operating five big waste processing facilities. Currently, Seoul has four and according to the plan, it will build one new and enlarge the existing ones.
Part of the budget will be spent on promoting recycling and upcycling among city residents, as well.
"Participation of citizens is important to achieve our goals," the mayor said.
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