Chungcheongnam-do

▲ Representatives of Chungcheongnam-do and the Under 2 Coalition

Chungcheongnam-do became the first Korean local government to be a member of the Under 2 Coalition that aims to stop the 2℃ increase of the earth’s temperature.

The Under 2 Coalition is an international organization on CO2 emission reduction, established in May 2015 by the state of California, United States and Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany, and over 200 local governments from 43 countries are current active members, notably New York, U.S.; Quebec, Canada; Sichuan Province, China; and Gifu Prefecture, Japan; and Chungcheongnam-do is the first member from Korea.
 

A local government may become a member of the Under 2 Coalition once it performs or commits to perform the following: ▲ expresses a political will to achieve de-carbonization, ▲ sets a greenhouse gas emission reduction objective in accordance with the Under 2 Coalition MOU, ▲ selects and declares strategies through which current or future reduction goals may be proposed, ▲ notification of greenhouse gas emission measurements to the Under 2 Coalition Secretariat every year.
 
To sign up as a member of the Under 2 Coalition, the province delivered its intent to the Secretariat last November and visited in December to agree on membership and activity plans. Afterwards, it also submitted an activity plan for achievement of CO2 reduction objectives including a greenhouse gas reduction plan under the new climate system, countermeasures for climate change, an energy vision plan and anti-coal and eco-friendly renewable energy policies.
 

By becoming a member of the Under 2 Coalition, there will be sharing of climate change response activities, such as zero-emission transfer, clean energy conversion and zero-carbon emission buildings, performed by notable local governments, and seek the means of accomplishing them.

Internally, the sign-up is expected to not only form a consensus on step-by-step closure of 14 aged coal thermal power plants within the province, conversion to eco-friendly energy, etc. currently pursued by Chungcheongnam-do, but also become an opportunity to secure a necessary driving force.
 

The province sought entry into the anti-coal alliance in order to keep pace with local governments worldwide in promoting its eco-friendly energy conversion policies as well as to mutually share cases of the acceleration of low-carbon, eco-friendly energy and the securing of clean energy.

Early this year, Chungcheongnam-do held the “Chungnam Energy Conversion Vision Proclamation Ceremony” to commit to reduce the percentage of coal thermal power generation in the province from the current 87.8% to 0% while proposing a vision to also raise the percentage of renewable energy generation volume from the current 7.7% to 47.5%. Last year, it led eco-friendly energy conversion policies in Korea through “Chungnam’s Proposals” aimed at the government, calling for the establishment of a national anti-coal roadmap.
 

Through this sign-up, the province expects to secure a driving force for completing the declaration of its anti-coal energy conversion and to form an international anti-coal network.