Korea Builds ‘Green Triangle’

Songdo, a coastal town west of Seoul, has been selected to be the headquarters of the secretariat of the United Nations Green Climate Fund (GCF), often called the “World Bank of the environmental sector,” greatly enhancing Korea`s international stature. It represents an occasion for double “green style” celebrations following the official launching of the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI).

The GGGI was established in Seoul in June 2010 to support eco-friendly growth in emerging economies and develop a green growth model. It is derived from President Lee Myung-bak`s 2008 National Liberation Day speech in which he proposed a low-carbon, green growth agenda for national development. The government explained that an agenda that includes concern for developing countries and climate change at the same time is highly effective in upgrading our international prestige and realizing business opportunities.

Now an international agency, the GGGI includes 16 member states, including Denmark, the UK and Korea. It has attracted global attention by suggesting a new paradigm that seeks to replace today`s wasteful economic model powered by fossil fuels with an economic system that combines with environmental issues for the coexistence of humankind. To this end, the GGGI has plotted a new direction of integrating the environment and growth, as well as boosting Korea`s international stature as a stronghold of green growth.

With aims to spread green growth models and support emerging countries` eco-friendly growth, the GGGI is a think tank to devise tailor-made green-growth plans for each country and region. For example, it is currently carrying out a project of preserving forest and preventing desolation in Kalimantan Province of Indonesia. In Cambodia, it is also pushing ahead with a project to establish solar cookers in cooperation with the Cambodian government. Projects to spread green growth models were undertaken in three countries in 2010 and they have been expanded to a total of 24 projects in 17 countries.
In spite of having limited natural resources, Korea has achieved enviable economic growth and development over the past century by fostering human resources through education, and international trade and exchanges. For Korea, GGGI has a great significance as it is the first international organization in which Korea played a leading role in its creation and has proposed a new paradigm of growth that is bearing fruit.

The role of GGGI has attracted keen interest as some countries fiercely competed to host the GCF Secretariat, in which 194 signatory states of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) are participating. With the interest in environmental issues growing, the world is paying increasing attention on the status upgrading and a new role of the GGGI in sharing diverse growth models while serving as a bridge builder between the developing and developed countries.
Starting in 2013, the GCF aims to raise US$100 billion (about 110 trillion won) in funds annually with its impact expected to surpass that of the IMF in the future. The hosting of the GCF secretariat will bring a 381.2 billion won windfall for the Korean economy. Korea will firmly establish itself as a leader on the environmental front by building a so-called “green triangle,” in which GGGI, GCF and the Green Technology Center (GTC) are effectively coordinated.

I hope Korea will make use of this occasion to gain new momentum for national development and greater unity among its people, not to mention emerging as the Mecca for sustainable world economy.

Jang Seong-ho
Professor of Politics
Pai Chai University

[ Seoul Shinmun, October 22, 2012 ]