By Jane Han
Staff Reporter
Environment Minister Lee Maan-ee said Wednesday that the Korean government will lessen regulatory burdens and map out concrete incentive programs to make it easier for the private sector to ``go green.''
Softening land development regulations and shortening the environmental assessment period were among the improvements Lee mentioned during a speech to European business executives in Seoul. His message was well received, with one executive saying that it could be the start of another miracle on the Han River.
``Our job is to provide no-hassle conditions for companies to implement new eco-friendly technology,'' Lee told members of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in Korea (EUCCK).
The government will aggressively support firms that want to commercialize newly developed technology and explore overseas markets, he said, all of which is in line with President Lee Myung-bak's ``low-carbon, green growth'' pledge.
The initiative's core goal is to increase energy self-sufficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Korea, the world's 10th-biggest emitter.
The minister said the government, as planned, will announce its emissions reduction target for 2020 sometime this year.
Korea is not yet bound by the Kyoto Protocol, the U.N. agreement mandating emissions reductions for industrialized nations through 2012. However, it pledged at the U.N. climate change conference in Bali in 2007 that it would take firm steps to curb emissions.
``We're serious about following up with our original plan with solid details,'' said Lee, adding that a sense of eco-friendly living will eventually expand among ordinary citizens with the help of several government-led pilot programs, such as carbon points and tax breaks for buying hybrid cars.
EUCCK Environment and Energy Committee Director Jean-Philippe Baudrey told The Korea Times that a second ``Miracle on the Han River'' in Korea will be possible through innovative green technology.
``Korea has a dynamic engineering market,'' he said, ``so even if the country might have been a latecomer to the global eco-friendly drive, it will be in the forefront soon.''
Baudrey said the Lee Myung-bak administration's introduction of the green growth campaign was good for motivating the private sector, but now it must come up with detailed incentives.
``Investing in R&D in Korea, installing energy efficient installations in a plant and kicking off joint ventures to exchange eco-friendly technologies are all things that can be done,'' he said, ``but companies want to know what they can get from this.''