[INTERVIEW] Korea vows to support developing nations' 'green transition'

Minister of Environment Han Wha-jin, left, tries out a single-use plastic cup recycling machine that returns a deposit of 100 won ($0.08), at the Government Complex Sejong, Dec. 7. Courtesy of Ministry of Environment

Environment minister's agenda focuses on ODA, circular economy, waste treatment

By Ko Dong-hwan

Minister of Environment Han Wha-jin / Courtesy of Ministry of Environment

Korea and Indonesia signed the Green Transition Initiative last November to provide the Southeast Asian country with development assistance to expand the use of electric vehicles. The initiative, signed on the sidelines of the G20 Bali Summit, seeks to help Indonesia, with a population of 276 million, develop a more eco-friendly auto market. The pact also benefits Korea's automobile industry, which will provide technical skills to help Indonesia transition to EVs.

Such projects are more than just business deals signed by two countries. They are joint investments for the broader cause of protecting the global environment. That's why the Korean Ministry of the Environment's official development assistance (ODA) agenda has been gaining momentum quickly. New projects this year include constructing a public water supply system in Ghana, monitoring air quality in Mongolia and launching a network of EV charging stations in Indonesia. With a total budget of 30 billion won ($24 million), the ministry will carry out six new ODA projects this year.

"It has become an increasing flashpoint for developing countries to commit to the 'green transition' and carbon neutralization so that the world can fight the climate crisis and meet the Sustainable Development Goals," Minister of Environment Han Wha-jin told The Korea Times. "Our country, meanwhile, is focusing on water, waste and eco-friendly energy policies to execute ODA projects. For the future, we are trying to build up model case studies that match our country's global image."

Seoul is already busy with 26 ongoing ODA projects in Asia, Africa and Central America that all began in 2022. The total budget for the projects is 21 billion won, a jump of 1.7 times the sum of the ODA budgets of the previous five years. These projects include introducing a flood forecasting and warning notification system in Laos, a smart water management system in the Philippines, and a new power plant in Uganda that turns excrement into energy resources. The ministry gets help from the Korea International Cooperation Agency and the Korean Meteorological Administration for some of its projects.

"With rising income levels, South Korea no longer receives but provides (in terms of ODA)," Jeong Kyung-hwa, head of the international cooperation division at the ministry's Climate Change and Carbon Neutral Policy Office, said. "ODA projects get underway after they get passed by Korea's foreign affairs ministry, the prime minister's secretariat and finally, the National Assembly."

"Our past ODA wasn't really done for the long term, which was a problem," the minister said. "We will fix this now, studying whether it can be jointly tackled by various bureaus rather than a single bureau. If proven so, that project's efficiency will improve and its budget will be lowered."

Environment Minister Han Wha-jin, third from left, visits Korea Midland Power's Seoul branch in Mapo District and checks how particulate matter is being controlled inside the facility, Dec. 5. Courtesy of Ministry of Environment

Incentivizing the circular economy, hiring environmental studies teachers

The burden of protecting the environment has gotten bigger and costlier in the face of the emerging climate crisis, which affects everyone. It now requires the minister to look carefully into the country's most demanding issues and come up with proposals at least to get started with response measures. One of the most pressing issues is to transition the national economy to an increasingly circular one that recycles more and leaves less waste behind.

Last December, the National Assembly passed the new Act on Helping Transition to Circular Economic Society, a legal basis to push companies to design products that can be recycled easily. It will hopefully be followed by revisions to national environmental laws so that private companies can extend their technological innovation across the same goal.

"We are currently incentivizing companies that manufacture products with high reusability by exempting them from mandatory fees for recycling wastes," the minister said. "Discarded vinyl and plastics, which I understand are unavoidable at this point, will have to be recycled better. Wasted batteries and electronics should also be recycled more extensively to save and reuse rare metals."

Another pending issue is to prevent the country from getting hit by mounting waste as more treatment facilities are becoming outdated and reaching capacity. Sudokwon Landfill, which has been accepting waste from the capital region of Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province, is shutting down by the end of 2025 as it is nearly filled to capacity, prompting the capital city to expand its current incineration capacity. But where to build a new plant has been a thorny issue, as it's proven difficult to persuade local residents to agree to the bid.

But cases in smaller cities, like Jeju Island's Seogwipo or Gyeryong in South Chungcheong Province, have shown the opposite responses in terms of the local mood as the idea of a new waste treatment facility has instead been welcomed. The key has been how adeptly a local government balances between pushing for the new facility and persuading residents.

"We are opening up our coffers more so that local residents will be more amenable to new additional waste treatment facilities," the minister said.

The ministry recently revised the Act on Supporting Waste Treatment Facilities to increase the proportion of a treatment facility's construction cost available for local community use from 10 to 20 percent.

Environment Minister Han Wha-jin delivers a speech during the COP27 Climate Change Summit at the International Convention Center in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, Nov. 15. Courtesy of Ministry of Environment

The year 2022 showed that the country could be vulnerable to a draught for months. Juam Dam, which supplies water to Gwangju and South Jeolla Province, saw the lowest reservoir level since 1992 due to natural causes. Islands off the country's southern coast suffered a serious water shortage. As a result, the supply of water to local residents had to be cut short for days.

The ministry's countermeasure was to locate alternative water sources. The authority managed to set precedents this year: they controlled the water supply level to save 74 million tons of water, which is good for 38 days for residents of the Gwangju and South Jeolla regions; they diverted water reserved for power generation to tap and industrial use; and deployed water desalination vessels to provide drinking water for Soan Island in Wando County, South Jeolla.

The COP27 Climate Change Summit in Egypt last November, on the other hand, posed another question for Korea regarding the country's youth, who are poised to be the biggest victims of the climate crisis in the coming years. When asked whether they are being well educated about the environment, the country had no answer just years ago when the environment was not a mandatory subject, and just an optional one. There were only a handful of environmental studies teachers nationwide, with more academically pressing programs dominating the minds of students, parents and cram schools.

But the tide changed last year.

With a revision to the Environment Education Act last June, the environment became a mandatory subject in elementary and middle schools nationwide starting next March. The revised academic curricula from last December also required other major subjects like English, math and Korean to include climate and environmental content in their textbooks.

The move follows increasing gatherings of youth across the world who have organized global meet-ups and protested that adults need to deal with the matter more seriously. The Conference of Youth, an event that took place prior to COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, was the latest example that proved borders are not an obstacle to teens uniting around the issue of climate change.

"The National Institute of Environmental Human Resources Development, one of our sub-agencies, joins the national process of hiring environmental studies teachers for youth starting this year," the minister said. "That is how the environment and education ministries collaborate to better prepare our students for the climate crisis."