[ad_1]
President Moon Jae-in has finally declared 2050 ‘Net Zero’.
On the 28th, in the speech of the municipal administration. Considering that there are already more than 70 countries that have declared themselves carbon neutral, it would be welcome, albeit late. On the morning of this morning, former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that he had had a pleasant phone call with current UN Secretary General Antonius Guters about the “Rescue of Korea.
Carbon neutral refers to a state in which net emissions become ‘0’ by offsetting greenhouse gas emissions and reductions. Given the modern civilization based on fossil fuels, this is not as easy as it sounds. Chinese President Xi Jinping’s announcement last month at the United Nations General Assembly that he would join the ranks of carbon neutrality in 2060 was evaluated 10 years after the international target. This is because China is still classified as a developing country and is the world’s top emitter of greenhouse gases.
Although it deserves to be declared carbon neutral, there are developed countries that have kept silent. The United States is the second largest producer in the world and the first largest country in the world in history. US President Donald Trump, who loves fossil fuels and called climate change a “hoax,” did so. However, the game is predicted to change a lot depending on the results of the November 3 US presidential election. If Democratic candidate Joe Biden is elected, he will most likely enter a full-scale American version of the Green New Deal, including the “re-engagement” of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, as well as the declaration of carbon neutrality. . An acquaintance belonging to the inner circle of Camp Biden has informed us, and it is said that the climate energy cooperation between the United States and Korea, China and Japan will also become visible.
In Korea’s carbon neutrality statement, one thing to look out for is “commercial coal.” President Moon said: “We have firmly followed the energy conversion policy, but there are still many shortcomings.”
It’s worth calling it a reversal ‘compared to the fact that Korea’s’ coal kick’ has not been clarified and has been criticized by the international community for continuing to fund coal-fired power plant projects in Indonesia and elsewhere. In particular, the correlation with the current government policy of “post-nuclear power plants” is observed. In this regard, Paty Virol, Secretary General of the International Energy Agency (IEA), said in an interview with me last month at the World Knowledge Forum, “The role of a low-carbon base power plant is inevitable for the GHG reduction and energy security “. “We have to change it drastically. For carbon neutrality, it is advised that the removal of carbon is the correct option, not nuclear power. In fact, officials from the relevant ministries complained that the reason Korea has delayed its Carbon neutral declaration is due to the background that it has not found a way to drastically reduce greenhouse gases without nuclear power plants, and that it was not possible to dare to talk about it. If so, now you have to ask and choose scientifically. ‘What is the clean energy free of greenhouse gases and fine dust between coal and nuclear energy?’
For renewable energy, which is the clean energy par excellence, it is desirable to nurture regions with good natural capital such as wind, sun and geography as strategic production bases. Let’s take Jeju as an example. Jeju, which has focused on the early diffusion of renewable energy with the goal of carbon neutrality in 2030, is now launching the first national demonstration project of ‘Green Hydrogen’, which creates hydrogen energy by decomposing water from the surplus electricity produced in a wind farm. This is a strategy to become an energy source that operates hydrogen buses and leads to a virtuous cycle frontier that symbolizes ‘clean Jeju’.
With Corona 19, ‘cleanliness’ is becoming an absolute value not only in energy and transportation, but also in life in general. This is because if it is not quarantined clean, it cannot survive. The clean rule of the country and the peaceful world is called “cleanliness.” Materially and mentally, the asset that will be passed on to the next generation is purity.
[김상협 제주연구원 원장(카이스트 녹색성장대학원 초빙교수)][ⓒ 매일경제 & mk.co.kr, 무단전재 및 재배포 금지]
