Presidential candidates' climate pledges mocked by activists

By Ko Dong-hwan

With the presidential election in Korea a little more than two months away, the candidates have been making pledges related to various subjects and appealing to different groups of people. However, it remains questionable and unclear how concerned the candidates are about climate change and how seriously they take the environmental commitment required to fight it.

One of Korea's environmental activist groups, Beyond Coal, took to the streets of Seoul to challenge the four leading candidates in a unique way: parodying their pledges dealing with carbon-intensive coal energy in a skit that portrayed them engaging in a mock coal-sweeping race.

Outside of the office of another major activist group, the Korea Federation for Environmental Movements, in Jongno District on Jan. 5, activists wearing giant head masks looking like the four different candidates tried to sweep props in the shape of coal to a finish line. Each activist took their turn in sweeping the coal using a different object. How each “candidate” did it was the skit's main satirical point, showing either how disappointing or promising the candidates' pledges were.

Main opposition People Power Party candidate Yoon Suk-yeol, holding a baseball bat, kept tripping on the coal and eventually tumbled to the ground, not even reaching the finish line. Also dumbfounding to watch were Ruling Democratic Party of Korea candidate Lee Jae-myung and moderate-conservative People's Party candidate Ahn Cheol-soo. Lee, with a broom made of dried brush, and Ahn, with an ice hockey stick, were either busy running all over the racing field aimlessly or remained clueless, never making it to the finish line. The only candidate who finished the race was minor opposition progressive Justice Party candidate Sim Sang-jeung, who successfully carried the coal across the line with a shovel.

Beyond Coal planned the skit based on the pledges the candidates had made in response to Youth 4 Climate Action, an environmental activist group, by last December.

While Yoon and Ahn, agree on the need for the country's carbon neutralization goal of 2050 has to be met as well as the anti-coal policies, they didn't make any pledges to raise the country's nationally determined contribution (NDC) to global efforts to reduce carbon emissions worldwide.

Neither did they make pledges as to when the country will completely opt out of using coal energy. Lee agreed to banning coal from the national energy mix but didn't promise exactly when the coal-fired power plants in the country will be completely decommissioned.

Sim's pledges, meanwhile, stood out, as she promises to dump the use of coal by 2030 and raise Korea's NDC by 50 percent from 2010 levels.

“We are seeing strong anti-coal sentiment from people concerned about their health and climate change, but the leading presidential candidates still don't seem to have a clear stance or vision regarding this movement,” said Kim Bo-rim from Youth 4 Climate Action. “They must realize that without decisive climate pledges like banning coal power by 2030, they won't be able to win the race.”

According to a survey of 1,500 people by environmental group Green Korea last September, nine out of 10 respondents said that climate change must be seriously dealt with during the ongoing presidential campaign, while seven out of 10 said that the candidates are not tackling the climate issue adequately.

In another survey by Beyond Coal from last December of residents living near coal power plants, 80 percent responded that they are keen on the candidates' climate pledges. The same month, some 500 people from South Gyeongsang Province, South Chungcheong Province and Incheon who live near coal power plants delivered a letter of petition to the major presidential candidates' election camps requesting that they eradicate coal power plants from the country.

“Most of the presidential candidates do mention the imminence and significance of fighting climate change but they fall short of providing clear action plans,” said Park Jee-hye from Solution for Our Climate, a Seoul-based law firm dedicated to supporting the country's environmental movement. “The candidates must be aware that climate policies shouldn't be empty promises. The two biggest parties' representatives (Lee and Yoon) will also earn votes not by wasting time with negative campaigning against each other but by making pledges to actually save people from this future that is deemed far from safe.”

Fifty-seven coal power plants are up and running in Korea as of this month, while four new ones are in the process of being built. The Honam coal-fired power plant in Yeosu, South Jeolla Province ― the country's oldest coal power plant that ran for half a century ― and nine other older coal plants that have operated for more than 30 years each, have been shut down.

However, the new Goseong Hai coal power plant in Goseong County, South Gyeongsang Province, with two reactors together generating over 3,000 megawatts, and the new Shin Seocheon coal power plant, producing 1,000 megawatts in South Chungcheong Province, began operating just last year.