Climate committee chief vows support for industries struggling to cut carbon emissions

The Korea Enterprises Federation hosted the 15th K-ESG Alliance meeting Friday at the FKI Tower Conference Center in Yeouido, Seoul, with Lee Chang-hoon, chairman of the Presidential Commission on Carbon Neutrality and Green Growth, as the keynote speaker.

About 40 K-ESG Alliance members and officials attended the meeting to discuss climate crisis response and the government's climate policy.

In a special lecture titled "Key Climate Policy Tasks in the Second Year of the Lee Jae Myung Administration," Lee said that while climate policy was retreating in some countries, the climate crisis driving those policies was in fact intensifying. "Those countries will have no choice but to change their policy direction before long," he said.

He went on to say that "responding to the climate crisis is not simply an environmental issue but a core task for securing the future international competitiveness of industry."

Lee outlined three key directions for the administration's second-year climate policy: establishing and faithfully implementing a plan to meet the 2035 greenhouse gas reduction target; accelerating the energy transition centered on renewable energy and strengthening market functions in the power sector; and improving the effectiveness of climate adaptation policy while bolstering regional response capacity.

He added that the government would "actively push forward green transition support projects for industrial sectors where carbon reduction is difficult, and substantially expand support for green finance and transition finance."

Kim Yoon, chairman of the K-ESG Alliance, said in his opening remarks that the business community would "contribute to the shift toward low-carbon production processes and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions through active investment and innovation."

He added that it was important to create conditions that allow companies to invest boldly and innovate. "Consistent and predictable legal, financial and market policies must be in place to expand infrastructure such as power grids and to ensure that new technology and investment translate into results in the market," he said.

A Korea Enterprises Federation official called for "practical support for high-carbon-emitting industries that face difficulties during the transition of production processes, alongside carefully calibrated policy consideration to maintain industrial competitiveness."