By Kim Rahn
Leaders of 20 cities across the world have agreed to make further efforts toward reducing the use of fossil fuels and nuclear energy.
The members of the World Mayors Council on Climate Change (WMCCC) from 15 countries adopted the 2012 Seoul Energy and Climate Mitigation Declaration of Local Governments during their meeting Saturday.
The declaration was announced on the last day of the three-day “International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI)-Seoul East Asia Days,” which was held on the occasion of the ICLEI’s opening of its East Asian office here. The ICLEI is made up of some 1,220 local governments from 84 countries, and is acting as the WMCCC’s secretariat.
In the declaration, the ICLEI and the WMCCC encouraged their members to reduce the use of fossil fuels and nuclear energy significantly by 2020 compared to 2010 levels. Each member will decide detailed objectives for the reduction by 2013 according to its own administrative and financial situation. They will share their action plans with others in next year’s meeting in Nantes, France.
Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon, who is also chairman of the WMCCC, said, “Seoul is making efforts to use less nuclear energy and expand the use of renewable energy. It will set a goal of reducing the use of fossil and nuclear energy by 30 percent by 2020.”
Regarding Seoul’s goal, Konrad Otto-Zimmermann, secretary general of the ICLEI, said, “How can Seoul citizens link up to ICLEI’s work? Seoul City has embarked on an ambitious agenda to replace one nuclear power plant through energy saving and the use of new and renewable energy,”
“This goal is truly ambitious, but I believe it can be achieved if all citizens support it and make their own contributions to energy saving and invest in renewable energy,” he added.
On the decision to set up its regional office in Seoul, not Tokyo or Beijing, Otto-Zimmermann said, “After the search for an appropriate location which was facilitated by the Korean Ministry of Public Administration and Security, ICLEI’s Executive Committee has accepted a hosting offer by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, which will enable the organization to maintain a fully equipped office and a small, efficient team.”