Co-chair of presidential commission on climate crisis to attend London Climate Action Week

Lee Chang-hoon, a co-chair of the Presidential Commission on Climate Crisis Response / Yonhap

A co-chair of the Presidential Commission on Climate Crisis Response will travel to London next week to attend London Climate Action Week 2026, Europe's largest annual climate festival expected to draw more than 75,000 people from around the world, his office said Thursday.

Lee Chang-hoon, the civilian chairperson of the commission also co-chaired by the prime minister, plans to attend key climate conferences and hold bilateral meetings with senior officials of other countries during the five-day trip starting Monday, the commission said.

It will be Lee's first overseas trip since the commission was newly launched in January from the previous Presidential Commission on Carbon Neutrality and Green Growth to play the role of a control tower for the government's climate policies and plans and their implementation.

Lee plans to use the trip to promote South Korea's achievements in climate governance reform while building a foundation for cooperation with climate commissions of major countries, as the London climate week is expected to serve as an agenda-setting occasion ahead of November's U.N. Climate Change Conference, known as COP31.

Lee is scheduled to attend the ministerial and CEO roundtable of the Global Energy Transition and Electrification Summit, the Climate Governance Forum and a member forum of the international Climate Councils Network while holding one-on-one meetings with Katie White, minister for climate in Britain's Department for Energy Security and Net Zero; Nigel Topping, chair of the Climate Change Committee; Rick Smith, head of the Canadian Climate Institute; and other officials.