Lee’s green growth plan drawing global attention

This is the third and last in a series of articles about the emergence of President Lee Myung-bak as a global leader representing the voices of emerging and underdeveloped nations as well as his vision of promoting “green growth” initiatives to help combat climate change and protect the environment. ― ED

By Na Jeong-ju

Early this year, President Lee Myung-bak announced a bold plan to invest 40 trillion won ($36.5 billion) over the next five years in developing renewable energy sources and nurture them into a new economic growth engine.

The government forecast the country’s exports of clean energy will top $36 billion in 2015, if the plan is implemented successfully, creating some 110,000 jobs for South Koreans.

Climate change and the energy crisis are not major topics at the G20 Seoul Summit, but Lee is seeking to share such a vision with the rest of the world to create momentum in reaching a global consensus on those issues, his aides say.

The forum also provides a crucial opportunity for Lee to demonstrate his leadership on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and promote his “green growth” initiatives.

The energy plan is part of the Lee administration’s green growth strategy which intends to turn environmental technologies into the main drivers of economic growth and new sources of jobs. It is aiming to reduce the heavy dependence on oil and gas imports and develop alternative energy sources that are friendly to the environment.

“The solar energy, wind power and water industries can become the backbone of our future economy like today’s semiconductor and shipbuilding industries,” the former corporate CEO said during a meeting of the Presidential Committee on Green Growth.

Green economic power

Lee’s hope is that Korea will be able to become one of the world’s top five clean energy powers by 2015.

According to Kim Sang-hyup, presidential secretary for future and vision, Lee’s energy plan sets an example for other countries that are preparing for similar measures to embrace the era of green growth.

“Korea has taken important steps toward becoming a green economic power,” Kim said.

Seoul aims to increase its portion of renewable energy compared to the entire energy consumption of the country from 2.4 percent last year to over 11 percent by 2030.

It is also seeking to build one million “green homes,” which will be entirely dependent on renewable energy, and become the world’s fourth-largest producer of eco-friendly cars by 2020.

The government will further reinforce research and exploration of natural resources in the Arctic Ocean and Antarctica, as part of a drive to secure offshore energy sources, according to the Ministry of Knowledge Economy.

Global demand for renewable energy stood at $162 billion in 2009, but has grown at an average rate of 28.2 percent a year for the past five years, which means the market will be worth $400 billion in 2015 if it continues to grow at the same rate.

The government is now working closely with government agencies and private firms to promote the use of renewable energy.

All electric power companies that generate more than 500 megawatts of electricity per hour must diversify their portfolio of energy sources beginning in 2012 and increase the supply of electricity generated from renewable energy sources to 10 percent in 2022.

Starting next year, all public buildings with an office space of 1,000 square meters or more should replace 10 percent of their energy needs with power generated from renewable energy, and 20 percent by 2020.

GGGI

The creation of the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), a think tank tasked to promote green growth and tackle climate change at a global level, reflects the country’s vision of becoming a green growth powerhouse.

Korea plans to develop the institute into a U.N.-backed international agency by 2012, making it the first such organization to be headquartered here.

The organization will gather scholars, scientists and civil society leaders from around the world to come up with workable solutions to global warming and provide a technological roadmap on green growth, according to the presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae.

“The GGGI is the ‘strategic foothold’ for both developed and developing countries in preparing for a greener future. It represents our resolve to put words into action,” President Lee said during the inauguration ceremony last June.

“The institute will play a central role in coordinating green growth policies among countries and developing related technologies. I firmly believe that the industries will spur economic growth and create numerous jobs.”

The institute has formed a board of directors, including some global experts like Thomas Heller, a professor of Stanford University, and chosen the country’s former Prime Minister Han Seung-soo as its first chairman.

The move came after Lee proposed the creation of such a global body to help the world share experiences and policies on green growth at the U.N. climate talks in Copenhagen, Denmark, last December.

At the conference, he announced a bid to host the 2012 climate talks to help the world chart a post-Kyoto Protocol roadmap on greenhouse gas reduction.

Seoul also pledged to cut carbon emissions by 30 percent from levels predicted for 2020, becoming the first emerging country to set up a reduction goal.

Water is an important alternative energy source for Korea.

Lee has also called for the need to secure a stable supply of water, saying the water industry will emerge as a core industry in the 21st century.

“In the era of climate change, the value and importance of the sun, wind and water will become more and more significant,” he said.

As part of the Green New Deal programs, the Lee administration started a project last year to dredge and refurbish the country’s four major rivers ― the Han, Nakdong, Geum and Yeongsan ― in a bid to prevent drought and floods as well as attract tourists.

Lee asserts that the three-year development project is crucial for economic growth, but critics argue the refurbishment will destroy the ecosystems surrounding the rivers.

Presidential aides say that he experienced similar hysteria when he initiated a project in 2003 to restore the Cheonggyecheon Stream, a six kilometer-long creek flowing west to east through downtown Seoul, as mayor of Seoul. In the 1960s, it was covered with concrete to make way for better traffic conditions and an elevated highway was even built over it.

The stream was opened to the public in September 2005 and was lauded as a major success in urban renewal and beautification.

It is now a major public recreation space and a tourist spot. Lee received the Hero of the Environment Award from Time magazine for the restoration project.