Seoul to establish Green Technology Center this year

President Lee Myung-bak speaks at the inaugural Global Green Growth Summit at the Lotte Hotel in central Seoul, Monday.

/ Korea Times photo by Wang Tae-seog

By Na Jeong-ju

President Lee Myung-bak said Monday Korea will set up a Green Technology Center this year to promote development and exchanges of eco-friendly technology among countries.

He also pledged to establish a Global Green Technology Award and increase the country’s financial assistance to developing nations to help them prepare for the “green growth” era.

Such plans are the latest in a series of projects Seoul has announced under Lee’s low-carbon, green-growth campaign. Last year, the country opened the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) in Seoul to develop related strategies and formed the Green Growth Alliance with Denmark during Lee’s trip to Copenhagen last month.

“Industrial modernization has led to much greater levels of environmental pollution and degradation. The Earth has been damaged and effects on the planet are being felt ever more deeply,” Lee said at the opening ceremony of the inaugural Global Green Growth Summit that Korea organized jointly with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

The Green Technology Center will focus on research on the fusion of energy, water and other related environmental technologies, according to Cheong Wa Dae. The center will also help train personnel and provide technological know-how to developing nations, it said.

The government plans to set up the research center jointly with the GGGI and leading foreign research institutes within the year as part of the country’s “science-business belt” project, under which it will build massive research complexes in Daejeon to help develop cutting-edge technologies.

Officials said Seoul plans to develop the green growth summit into a premier forum for global discussions, like the World Economic Forum, also known as the Davos Forum, to promote the development of green growth technologies.

The two-day conference drew dozens of high-level speakers from 25 countries and major international organizations, including OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria; Noeleen Heyzer, executive secretary of the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific; and Danish Climate and Energy Minister Lykke Friis.

Also in attendance were business leaders and renowned scholars, including Zhengrong Shi, head of China’s Suntech Power, the world’s largest maker of solar panels; Masayoshi Son, chairman and CEO of Softbank Corp. in Japan; and professor Nicholas Stern of the London School of Economics.

Green growth has been one of President Lee’s trademark policies. It calls for lessening Korea’s dependence on fossil fuels and promoting the development of alternative energy sources, such as solar and wind power, and other technologies that increase energy efficiency.

Lee believes the strategy will provide the country with fresh growth engines for its economy and help Korea, one of the world’s biggest carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emitters, reduce its yearly levels.

Lee called for a “planet-responsible civilization” to tackle the issues of global warming and climate change.

“The magnitude of the problems that the world faces no doubt belittles each and every individual member within it,” Lee said. “Yet, if we are to combine our efforts and become united as one we can indeed make a difference no matter how insignificant we are as separate individuals.”

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