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녹색성장 국제학술회의 개회식 기조연설<영문>

  • 작성자 : 김진옥
  • 등록일 : 2009.09.09
  • 조회수 : 3113
Excellencies,
Distinguished participants,
Ladies and gentlemen,

It is my great pleasure to speak to you this morning here at the opening ceremony of Green Korea 2009.

On behalf of the government of the Republic of Korea, I would like to extend my warmest welcome to all the distinguished participants, particularly to those foreign guests who have traveled long distances to attend this conference. I am indeed delighted to have here with us so many eminent scholars, policymakers and business leaders who have dedicated their lives and career to making a better future of humanity.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Kim Hyung-kook, Co-chair of the Presidential Commission on Green Growth, Dr. Kim Cae One, Chair of the National Research Council for Economics, Humanities and Social Sciences, and H.E. Sha Zukang, the UN Under-Secretary-General in charge of Economic and Social Affairs and the entire staff of these organizations for their untiring efforts in putting together this conference.

I also wish to thank Dr. Paula Dobriansky and Dr. Park Chan-mo for their presentation of keynote speeches following mine which I unfortunately will have to miss because I have to leave soon after my speech in order to attend an important industrial exhibition at KINTEX.

The overarching theme of today’s meeting is “Green Growth and Cooperation: Policy Mix and Industry.” Through exchange and exploration of ideas, I sincerely hope that the conference will provide a valuable opportunity for the distinguished participants to contemplate various ways to connect green with growth and thereby envision a future of continued and sustainable development.

Ladies and gentlemen,

The future of humanity depends on how we deal with the issue of climate change today. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon designated this year as the UN Year of Climate Change and called for a summit meeting on climate change on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly on 22 September 2009.

Acknowledging that green and growth can go hand-in-hand, the 2009 OECD Ministerial Council Meeting in Paris, which I chaired this year, unanimously adopted the Declaration on Green Growth on June 25th.

In early July last year, President Lee Myung-bak attended the G-8 Outreach Summit Meeting held in Toyako, Hokkaido, Japan. Here, President Lee declared that if, in the past, Korea had been slow in responding to the issue of climate change, Korea will now be an “early mover” in taking climate action.

A month later on August 15th, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Korea, he proclaimed Low Carbon, Green Growth as Korea's new national vision.

As such, the global community today is focused on the issue of climate change which stands out as one of the most crucial global challenges of our time. During the past 10,000 years, the global average temperature rose only by 1C. However, during the past 100 years, since the Industrial Revolution, the global average temperature has risen by 0.74C. The numbers point to the fact that more than 70 percent of the temperature rise of the past 10,000 years is a result of the fossil-fuel driven Industrial Revolution.

The use of fossil-fuel for industrial development increased the volume of green house gas (GHG) emissions in our atmosphere. In fact, fossil-fuel is known to be the source of 80-85 percent of total global GHG emissions. Deforestation and misuse of land make up the remaining 15-20 percent.

The Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicts that the global average temperature will rise by more than 6C by the end of the 21st century if we do not take any immediate action in response to climate change, i.e. if we continue our “business as usual” (BAU) way of life. Powerful hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons such as Katrina, Nargis, Ike, and the recent Morakot are clear reminders that global warming is changing our climate on an unprecedented scale and pace.

Korea is no exception to the effects of climate change. During the last 100 years, the average temperature of the Korean peninsula rose by 1.5C and is expected to rise even more, by 1.2C, by 2020 which is above the world average temperature rise. The temperature of the coastal sea water has also risen by 2C during the past 100 years.

As the temperature rises and the sea water becomes warmer due to changes in weather, we are beginning to witness changes in the ecosystem: crops that used to be harvested in southern regions are now produced in northern regions, and fish living in warm currents are now being caught in our coasts where the water used to be colder.

Climate change is a global issue that affects us without prejudice to our territorial boundaries. Hence, like many other global issues of our time, but more particularly so, the challenges of climate change cannot be resolved by any single country.

Personally, I have been heavily involved in the global issue of climate change and water. Before returning to public service early last year, I served as Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General on Climate Change. Today, I continue to serve on the UN Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation and as the founding Chair of the High-Level Expert Panel on Water and Disaster/UNSGAB.

In these various capacities, I traveled extensively, meeting world leaders and urging them to address climate problems. One of the encouraging phenomena I witnessed was the growing awareness that prompted action on the part of many governments, organizations and communities around the world.

Although we still have much to do to reduce our carbon footprints, the world has indeed not been idle in tackling the issue of climate change. In 1992, world leaders gathered in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where they held the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, known as the Earth Summit, to tackle the issue of climate change on a global level. It was through this meeting that the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was created.

The main idea behind this Convention was for the world community to work together in reducing carbon emissions and thereby limit the rise of global temperature by 2C at the end of the 21st century.

Based on this Framework Convention, countries agreed on the Kyoto Protocol which stipulates that “Annex I” countries must reduce their carbon emissions to levels below their 1990 levels by 5.2% on average.

Two years ago, the 13th Conference of Parties of the UNFCCC was held in Bali. At the time, the most important but thorny issue was whether major “Non-Annex I” countries such as China, India, and Brazil should be committed to share the burden of mitigation efforts.

Under the Kyoto Protocol, there was no mechanism to bring emerging economies undergoing rapid development and thereby emitting large volumes of GHG emissions to join in on the mitigation efforts. After a series of painstaking negotiations, countries finally came together to agree on the Bali Action Plan that calls for nationally appropriate mitigation action according to their capabilities, known as NAMA, for developing countries. The Bali Action Plan was a milestone achievement in climate negotiations.

Yet, despite all its merits as well as shortfalls, the Kyoto Protocol is set to expire in 2012, and the international community is currently in the process of working out the details of the post-2012 climate regime. The discussions will culminate in the 15th Conference of Parties of the UNFCCC scheduled for December this year in Copenhagen, Denmark. Although it may be very difficult, a new climate architecture for 2013-2017 needs to be adopted at this meeting in order for it to take effect in 2013, following ratification within individual member countries.

Many countries, including Korea, are working actively to make the upcoming meeting a success because unless we “seal the deal” on the post-2012 climate regime, there will be much confusion within the international community concerning what climate actions need to be taken and by whom. It is as part of these efforts that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has proposed for a summit meeting at the United Nations on September 22nd as mentioned earlier.

As for Korea, President Lee Myung-bak in Toyako, Japan last year announced that Korea would take active measures in the global fight against climate change and will also play a bridging role between developed and developing countries on this issue.

In fact, just last month, on August 4th, the Korean government released three carbon emissions reduction scenarios as part of the efforts to set a voluntary emissions reduction target. The three scenarios each aim at a reduction of 21%, 27% and 30% respectively from the expected BAU (813 million tons) by 2020. Considering that Korean GHG emissions have doubled in the past 15 years and are expected to increase another 37% in the next 15 years under present conditions, these targets are indeed meaningful goals. Following public consensus on the scenario, the government soon plans to announce Korea’s national emissions reduction target for 2020.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Domestically, Korea launched the Green New Deal policy early this January in order to put the new national vision of Low Carbon, Green Growth into policy action. Green growth is more than a concept to just tackle climate change. It involves a fundamental shift in our growth paradigm, from quantitative growth to qualitative growth.

The green part of the Green New Deal refers to the green growth policy. At about the time when Korea was embarking on the green growth strategy last year, the financial meltdown in Wall Street erupted, negatively impacting the real sectors. Therefore, we had to rapidly supplement the green growth strategy with a stimulus package through new deal.

In comparison to other countries, Korea thus promptly and effectively responded to the negative impacts of the global economic crisis. As a result, Korea was the only OECD member state that registered positive growth in the first quarter of 2009 and continued this momentum in the second quarter as well.

The Green New Deal policy is an amalgam of a long-term policy of expanding growth potentiality through green strategy and a short-term policy of creating jobs and revitalizing economy through new deal. In academic terms, this initiative is a combination of neo-classical, supply-side economic policy with Keynesian, demand-oriented policy prescriptions. When we overcome the current economic crisis, the new deal portion of the policy will be phased out, leaving only green growth as the major economic policy goal.

Then, what exactly is green growth policy? It is a policy that will allow Korea to catch three birds with one stone. These are: (a) creating new engines of a higher growth path, (b) ensuring climatic and environmental sustainability and (c) contributing to the process of international negotiations to fight global warming.

Korea’s development in the past was based on a quantitative growth paradigm. The first 5-year Economic Development Plan launched in 1962 under President Park Chung-hee continued for over 3 decades until the seventh 5-year Indicative Plan. In other words, until mid-1990s, Korea’s economic policy was based on an economic plan dictated by the theories of a quantitative growth paradigm. The two important factors of production in a quantitative growth paradigm are labor and capital.

Extensive growth of capital and labor made extensive, quantitative growth possible, but in the process made economic development and quality of life two mutually exclusive goals. As the national economy rapidly grew, the environment quickly deteriorated. Hence, tension and conflict between the proponents for growth and for environmental protection continued to grow.

Under the new paradigm of qualitative growth, however, the most important factors of production are new ideas, transformational innovations, and state-of-the-art technology. Economic growth based on these factors brings about substantially intensive, qualitative growth as opposed to the past extensive, quantitative growth. This enables a mutually beneficial relationship to develop between growth and environment, allowing us to catch two birds with one stone.

Moreover, since green growth also implies low-carbon growth, the new strategy will enable Korea to be more active and positive in the process of international negotiations on climate change, enabling us to play a bigger role on the international stage as a responsible member of the international community. And there we have it, the third bird.

Then, what are some specific measures that we need to take in order to bring about green growth? As technology is the most crucial factor in promoting green growth, the Korean government has identified 17 sectors as new engines of growth for intensive R&D investment. They are, (a) under the category of green technology, new and renewable energy, energy saving technology, water management, LED applications, green transport system and state-of-the-art green city, (b) under the category of state-of-art fusion industries, IT fusion with manufacturing industry, robot applications, new materials and nano fusion, biomedicines and high value-added food industry, and (c) under the category of high value-added industries, global health care, global education services, green financing, contents and software and MICE and tourism industry.

Ladies and gentlemen,

One of the most important projects among the Green New Deal policy of the government is the Four Major River Restoration Plan. Korea is well known internationally for having successfully “greened” our barren mountains in a very short period of time during the 1960s and 1970s. Today, the number of visitors equivalent to 460 million man-days visit the mountains every year to enjoy the mountain beauty and scenery. Were there no trees, who would want to visit these mountains?

Having spent my early boyhood on the banks of the North Han River, I am well aware of the beauty and importance of rivers in our lives. As a boy, I used to swim and catch fish in clear and clean water, but very few in my home village nowadays go to the river to enjoy it. Unfortunately, these rivers, the bases of our long history and flourishing culture, are slowly dying from pollution. Fewer and fewer people are visiting the rivers. The Four Major River Restoration Plan aims to revive our rivers and restore them to the people so that they can visit and enjoy rivers once again just as they do the mountains. The plan also hopes to bring back the rivers’ indigenous ecosystem. Basically, the main goal behind the Four Major River Restoration Plan is to rediscover the beauty of our landscape by cleansing our rivers as we have already greened our mountains.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Korea is the first country in the world to put the green growth paradigm into a more coherent and practical policy action. We have established the Presidential Commission on Green Growth, published the National Strategy on Green Growth, and completed the designing of the 5-Year Green Growth Plan in July. The National Assembly is currently deliberating to soon legislate the Basic Law on Green Growth.
The UNEP in their recent report “Overview of the Republic of Korea’s Green Growth National Vision” stated that, I quote, “beyond its policies at the national level, the Republic of Korea is demonstrating engagement and leadership at the international level by boosting global efforts towards achieving a green economy” unquote.

Green growth will not be completed within one or two years or even within President Lee Myung-bak’s term in office. What the Korean government is doing now is to change the basic paradigm on which our economy will be managed in the future. Just as our current economy is the cumulative result of rapid and condensed development based on the quantitative growth strategy of President Park Chung-hee’s 5-Year Economic Development Plan, President Lee’s green growth strategy will have to lead our economy for several decades in the future.

Ladies and gentlemen,

It is said that the hallmark of wisdom is in knowing how to turn crisis into opportunity. The word crisis (危機) in Chinese is composed of two meanings: danger (危險) and opportunity (機會). Now that we are faced with the crisis, we must do our utmost to turn climate danger into change opportunity, the change for the better, the change for moving into a new paradigm of green growth.

In closing, I ask each one of you to share your wisdom, insight and advice as we seek to build a better and greener world for us and for the future generation. And for our foreign guests, I most warmly welcome you once again and wish you all the best during your brief stay in Korea.

Thank you.