Park Ji-won is a writer for The Korea Times who has been covering a wide range of topics from Korea’s culture to its politics. An avid journalism enthusiast to the core, Ji-won brings a thoughtful and unique perspective to every topic she covers. On weekends, you'll often find her contemplating life’s purpose on a yoga mat — with a cup of quality tea in hand. A native Korean speaker by birth and fluent in English through her work, she went to college in Japan and is learning Chinese and French — hoping to add Polish, Russian and Thai to the mix.
Catholic Church joins net zero drive
Poster for the Catholic Diocese's campaign “Dedication of practice of carbon neutrality in the Catholic Diocese of Suwon” / Courtesy of Catholic Diocese of Suwon
By Park Ji-won
By Park Ji-won
The Catholic Diocese of Suwon consisting of 222 churches in the region pledged to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2040 by using renewable energy in its facilities.
The diocese launched a one-year campaign called “Dedication of practice of carbon neutrality in the Catholic Diocese of Suwon” on Saturday, which aims for self-sufficient electricity supply by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2040. The diocese marked the launch by holding a prayer service.
“Achieving the goal of carbon neutrality is a wave of the era. But acting on the issue is a matter of life and death. It is a matter of survival,” Rev. Yang Ki-suk, head of the Catholic Diocese of Suwon's environment and ecology committee, told The Korea Times by phone, Monday.
“A few years ago, reports urged reaching carbon neutrality by 2050 as global warming will hit 1.5C by 2050. But recently, some reports including that of IPCC have pushed forward the timeline to 2040. Pope Francis has been urging the Catholic community to actively take action for environmental sustainability while announcing the seven-year Laudato si' action plan on environmental issues. So we hastened the aim to 2040 as a matter of urgency in working toward carbon neutrality. We may have taken the lead on this action, but the Catholic Church in Korea community will take action as discussions continue in its special committee.”
To be specific, the diocese aims to run its churches through self-generated electricity by installing solar thermal power plants in every church in the region by 2030 so that one church can generate around 100kW/h annually.
The community expects the installation will enable a 60 to 70 percent reduction in carbon emissions compared to now. It also plans to use more net zero-friendly products in churches while urging churchgoers to do the same in their daily lives. Catholics can participate in the campaign online, where they can save some points while taking action. Later, the names of those who reach 50 million points will be used in the donation for climate refugees or people displaced by climate change.
The decision came after Pope Francis and the Korean government pledged to work towards net zero carbon emissions to reach the target by 2050.
The target of net zero carbon emissions has been set in other religious communities. Some Protestant churches joined hands in May to pledge to work towards net-zero carbon emissions to reach the target by 2050 and the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism also announced it came up with measures in June to overcome climate change and take action for carbon neutrality over the next 10 years.