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The Korea Times

Entertainment & Arts

SCMP
Asia

The Korea Times

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Columnists

Kim Sung-woo

Most popular search terms in 2022 and implications for companies

What was the most popular search term in 2022? Perhaps many would think “Extraordinary Attorney Woo,” the Netflix top-chart Korean drama, or “Qatar World Cup.” Surprisingly, the answer was “climate change.” Announcing that the No. 1 search term of the year was “climate change,” Google Korea noted last December that environmental issues have been garnering increasingly more attention from the public.

2023-01-08 16:40

New environment policy and regulations expected to aid rise of hydrogen

Among the various elements discovered by humans so far, hydrogen is known as the element that is the most abundant, lightest and simplest in structure. Water, which covers more than 70 percent of the earth, is made up of hydrogen and oxygen. An important property that is missing in hydrogen's profile is that hydrogen has the strong potential to become a key source of our next-generation clean energy, which is essential to cope with the climate crisis.

2022-12-11 16:50

2050 Presidential Commission on Carbon Neutrality and Green Growth kicks off

On Oct. 26, the Presidential Commission on Carbon Neutrality and Green Growth officially started its work. Unlike its predecessors, the National Council on Climate and Air Quality and the Carbon Neutrality Committee, the commission has its foundation under the Framework Act on Carbon Neutrality and Green Growth for Coping with Climate Crisis, which came into force last March. Having experienced all three committees, the commission seems to have particularly more solid support compared to its predecessors thanks to the underlying basis for its roles and responsibilities engrained in the statu...

2022-11-13 13:59

Earth getting hotter, people getting sicker

Last April, the publication Nature published some notable research. Due to climate change, animals are traveling outside of their original habitats more frequently, which is expected to create 123,000 new contacts with different species and 4,600 cases of pathogen sharing among mammals by 2070. In other words, as the Earth gets hotter, more animals come into contact with each other, which is likely to lead to one more case of pathogen sharing every three to four days.

2022-10-09 17:00

Energy transition challenges and roles of technology

The summer of 2022 was by far the worst season in recent climate history. Record-level droughts, heavy rains and heat waves showed how devastating climate aberrations can be across the globe. The United States saw multiple once-in-a-thousand-years rainfalls, with Illinois alone being blasted for 12 hours with average rainfall of about 200 millimeters per hour noting that the record rainfall in Seoul that paralyzed the city in early August recorded 141 mm per hour.

2022-09-19 14:42

Korea lags behind in global renewable energy market

The levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) for solar and wind power last year fell by 13 percent to 15 percent year-on-year, thanks to an increase in global investment and advances in relevant technologies, according to a report titled “Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2021” released by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) on July 13.

2022-08-07 16:11

Positive signals of Framework Act on Carbon Neutrality

In March, the Framework Act on Carbon Neutrality and Green Growth came into force to address the climate crisis by codifying carbon neutrality targets and their implementation plan. Multiple bills had been proposed since 2020, but they were merged into a single bill which finally passed the National Assembly in August 2021.

2022-07-10 16:34

Generation MZ is key to ESG era

Generation MZ - a term referring to both Millennials and the Gen Z generation in Korea - now takes up 40 percent of the entire South Korean population. Born between 1981 and 2010, the generation's impact across Korean society has been increasing. Some of them hold leadership positions in major political parties; others earned a spot in the C-suite of major corporations. The story of Gen MZ as a successful trendsetter in society is no longer foreign to Korea.

2022-06-12 16:00

Keywords for carbon neutrality

About two to three years ago, we rarely came across the terms “carbon neutrality” (the state of net zero carbon emissions) or “ESG” (environmental, social and corporate governance). However, even amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, ESG garnered increasing attention, with countries around the world declaring their commitment to these concepts and aims.

2022-05-08 17:10

How to enjoy the journey to carbon neutrality

According to Climate Action Tracker, which tracks climate pledges and policies around the world, as of November 2021, 140 countries - which account for 90 percent of the world's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions - have announced or are contemplating some form of carbon neutrality target.

2022-04-10 15:45

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