Conference on climate change will be held in Seoul next week

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Thu, June 29, 2017 | 23:07

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Conference on climate change will be held in Seoul next week

Posted : 2014-08-28 16:46

Updated : 2014-08-28 19:04

By Kim Se-jeong

Kim Sang-hyup
KAIST professor

An international conference that will offer a glimpse of achievements and future challenges faced by countries fighting climate change and energy shortages will be held in Seoul on Sept. 3.

The Seoul Climate-Energy Conference, hosted by the KAIST Graduate School of Green Growth at the Plaza Hotel, will be an important venue for Korean policymakers to learn from world-renowned "green growth" experts, organizers said.

The forum will help prepare the Korean government for a special United Nations Climate Summit to be convened by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Sept. 23.

"Next week's conference will be an important opportunity for Korean officials to share ideas and learn about climate change and draw up plans to achieve sustainable growth," said Kim Sang-hyup, a KAIST professor who is organizing the forum. Kim served as senior presidential secretary on green growth under the previous Lee Myung-bak administration.

The U.N. summit is expected to draw several heads of state, including President Park Geun-hye, U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

According to Kim, Foreign Minister Yoon Byung-se will give a welcoming speech to participants in next week's forum. Ban will also offer a televised message.

Kim played a leading role in founding the Global Green Growth Institute, a knowledge-sharing organization on green growth, and Global Climate Fund, an entity mandated to channel funds from developed countries to vulnerable developing countries in dealing with the consequences of climate change and helping to prevent further changes.

Participants of the forum include Hela Cheikhrouhou, executive director of the Green Climate Fund; Yvo de Boer, director-general of the Global Green Growth Institute; Won Hee-ryong, governor of Jeju Island; Joo Hyung-hwan, vice minister of strategy and finance; Jeong Yeon-man, vice environmental minister; Lee Suk-joon, vice minister for Science, ICT and Future Planning and Lee Seung-hoon, co-chairman of the Committee on Green Growth.

Two U.S. speakers, Robert Stavins, a professor at Harvard University, and James Sweeney, a professor of Stanford University, will speak on challenges and opportunities of the new climate regime, energy transformation, green technology and new economic developments.

For more information about the conference, visit www.seoulclimate2014.org.

skim@koreatimes.co.kr