Gyeonggi Province to Establish Carbon-Neutral Industrial Complexes and Raise Carbon-Neutral Fund of USD 97 mil. in Response to Climate Change

SUWON, South Korea, March 22, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Gyeonggi Province will promote carbon-neutral initiatives to proactively respond to the climate crisis by developing carbon-neutral industrial complexes by 2030 and raising a carbon-neutral fund over the next five years.

To this end, 13 action plans will be implemented with two strategies – "industrial transition to green" and "expansion of renewable energy"– under the vision of "transition to a fair green economy for carbon neutrality."

For the first strategy, Gyeonggi Province will create more than five carbon-neutral industrial complexes by 2030 to support low-carbon processes by providing eco-friendly facilities and technologies.

"Since the climate crisis is directly related to the matter of our survival, swift actions are required for the transition to decarbonization. Because industrial complexes account for around 50 percent of industrial energy usage and greenhouse gas emissions in the province, creating carbon-neutral industrial complexes is the challenge of the times," said Jung Do-young, Director General of Economy Planning for the Gyeonggi Provincial Government.

He added, "We will devise our own carbon-neutral industrial complex model by 2025 and establish five complexes by 2030, expanding its application to all industrial complexes by 2050."

Gyeonggi Province will launch a pilot project to develop the model, targeting an industrial complex with an area of 60,000 square meters that is slated for development this year, and an existing complex with an area of over 600,000 square meters.

In the pilot stage, Gyeonggi Province will comprehensively introduce a system and supportive policies by 2030 and accumulate examples by defining a type-and-characteristic-centered model considering industrial complex size, business type, and greenhouse gas emission rates. It will be mandatory for newly built industrial complexes to meet the requirements for carbon emission reduction from the design stage.

In addition, Gyeonggi Province will raise a carbon-neutral fund of USD 97 million over the next five years to create a carbon-neutral industrial ecosystem. Based on this fund, it plans to identify eco-friendly carbon-neutral businesses and actively invest in those businesses that promote the "Green New Deal," renewable energy, and low-carbon green growth.

To promote a paradigm shift among provincial residents and expand profit-sharing renewable energy, Gyeonggi Province will initiate a photovoltaic generation project utilizing public sites and encourage 100,000 households to join "RE100" (a global campaign committed to 100% renewable electricity) to ensure renewable energy rights.