The impact of the suspension of overseas coal investment on Korea's future
We are now in an unprecedented situation in history. The global economy has never stopped this much since the war, and there has never been a moment when the whole world worked together to overcome a single problem. The meaning of who we are and what we do has never been so profound. Corona19 has completely changed our daily lives, creating numerous uncertainties about the future, but one thing has become clear that we will never be able to return to our previous lives.
It is very foolish not to look for opportunities in the most difficult crisis. According to a recent study of the Spanish flu outbreak in 1918, cities that attempted to contain the virus in its early stages experienced a revival in real economic activity after the end of the epidemic.
How can we put these findings into the current situation? First of all, people in Korea and the United Kingdom felt that the air quality had improved significantly due to the reduction of vehicles, the suspension of coal-fired power plants and the implementation of upper limit restrictions. Compared to last year, the level of ultrafine dust in Korea has almost halved. Clean air is one of the most obvious health benefits that can be achieved by the suspension of coal-fired power generation. Coal power generation is considered the biggest cause of carbon emissions that raise global temperatures.
Secondly, the argument for stopping coal-fired power generation is no longer limited to environmental or social reasons. The suspension of coal-fired power generation also has an economic aspect. South Korea has a risk of more than $100 billion in stranded assets, which is the highest in the world. Companies have already begun to change. BlackRock, JP Morgan and Citibank have recently declared they will no longer invest in companies that support coal-fired power generation. Shell, Total and BP declared carbon neutral management. McKinsey is urging the government to reconsider the existing subsidy system that accelerates climate change. Civic groups, financial institutions and other economic players may have all taken different ways of proceeding from different starting points. But the goal to transform into a low-carbon energy society is the final goal agreed upon by all economic players, including civil society and financial institutions.
Finally, if there are still doubts about the suspension of coal-fired power generation, I would like to encourage policymakers in Seoul and Sejong to join us. At the same time, how Korea wants to be perceived by the international community should be considered as well. As the preparations for the 26th Conference of Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP26), which will be hosted in Glasgow, the international community is expected to shift from Corona 19 countermeasures to green economic recovery. These two crisis situations are inevitably intertwined. Britain has called on our Climate Change Commission (CCC) to begin research by this summer on how to support and improve economic recovery. It is a miscalculation to think that fossil fuels, which drove economic growth in the 19th and 20th centuries in this era when the unit cost of wind and solar power is the lowest, will contribute greatly to economic development again.
It is important for Korea to maintain its current momentum until summer. Unfortunately, the P4G summit was postponed to 2021 for the same reason as the COP26 postponement. Instead of the P4G talks, the announcement of recommendations by the National Climate and Environment Council and the Ninth Basic Plan for Power Supply became more important. We hope to see a green light soon that Korea will stop coal-fired power generation. The Green New Deal announced by the Democratic Party and the Carbon Neutralization Declaration by 2050 will serve as a solid foundation for the suspension of coal-fired power generation. In the United Nations General Assembly, Moon Jae-in president on September 7 the suggestion to as 'the world for the blue sky clean air day'. This would seem more contradictory if Korea was still investing in overseas coal-fired power generation.
To achieve the goal of the Paris Climate Change Convention, the world must stop all coal-fired power generation by 2050. Britain is scheduled to suspend its last coal-fired power plant by 2024 at the latest. Investment in coal-fired power plants should be stopped immediately to achieve the goal of de-coal in 2050. There are three important reasons to stop investing in coal-fired power plants. The first is for civil health today, the second is for the preservation of our children's economic activities, and the third is for the reputation of our two countries in future generations. Coal-fired power generation is threatening all three.
[British Ambassador to Korea, Simon Smith]
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