Korea aims for 200,000 electric cars by 2020

Korea aims to boost its use of electric vehicles to 200,000 units by 2020 as part of its bid to promote next-generation cars that are more affordable, energy-efficient and environmentally friendly. The Environment Ministry on Friday unveiled a package of comprehensive measures to speed up the commercialization of electric cars, which includes a renewal of tax breaks, investment in new technologies, quotas for public agencies, plans to expand charging stations and other incentives for buyers. It

Dec. 20, 2014

Seoul calls for energy cooperation in Northeast Asia

Countries in Northeast Asia should beef up energy cooperation in a bid to bring peace and security to the region where a lack of trust has intensified geopolitical conflicts, a ranking Seoul diplomat said Friday.Speaking at a forum on energy security in Seoul, Ahn Chong-ghee, deputy foreign minister for economic affairs, said Northeast Asia, highly dependent on overseas energy imports, faces growing challenges for regional energy cooperation due to geopolitical tension."The current geopolitical

Dec. 12, 2014

Faulty alloy still in use in S. Korean atomic power plants: Greenpeace

Greenpeace International claimed Wednesday that a defective nickel-based alloy has been in use in core parts of South Korean nuclear power plants, exposing the country to the risk of massive leaks of radioactive water from the plants."Inconel-600" is currently in use at 14 local nuclear reactors throughout the United States, but various other countries stopped using it four decades ago due to the material's serious problem with durability.Manufactured by an American company, the nickel-chromium

Dec. 3, 2014

S. Korea plans to cut energy use by 4.1 pct by 2017

South Korea seeks to reduce its use of energy by 4.1 percent from its business-as-usual (BAU) level in 2017 that will also help cut its greenhouse gas emissions, the government said Tuesday.Under a new five-year plan affecting the 2013-2017 period, the government will seek to keep the annual growth of the country's total energy use under 1 percent, which will help reduce the country's overall use of energy to 218.2 billion tons of oil equivalents (TOEs) from the anticipated BAU level of 227.5 bi

Dec. 2, 2014

S. Korea, 20 other countries to contribute US$9.4 bln to climate fund

South Korea and 20 other countries promised Thursday to contribute a combined US$9.4 billion to a U.N. climate fund over the next four years, the finance ministry said.The United States and Japan promised to provide $3 billion and $1.5 billion to the Green Climate Fund (GCF), while Britain pledged to grant $1.2 billion. France and Germany will offer about $1 billion, according to the ministry.South Korea earlier said that it will contribute $100 million to the fund, whose secretariat office was

Nov. 21, 2014

S. Korea, China, Japan to conduct joint fine-dust research

State-run environmental research institutes of South Korea, China and Japan have agreed to conduct joint research on ways to tackle fine dust pollution and strengthen cooperation over the issue, Seoul researchers said Friday.   The agreement was reached during the 11th meeting of chiefs of national environmental research institutes from the three countries being held in the Japanese city of Kawasaki, South Korea's National Institute of Environmental Research said.   It comes amid growing health

Nov. 14, 2014

S. Korea, China to discuss ways to cut fine dust

The environment ministers of South Korea and China will meet in Beijing this week to discuss concrete plans to reduce fine dust emissions, Seoul’s Environment Ministry said Wednesday.The meeting between South Korean Environment Minister Yoon Seong-kyu and his Chinese counterpart, Zhou Shengxian, is a follow-up to the memorandum of understanding on South Korea-China environmental cooperation signed during a bilateral summit in July.Fine dust is defined as particles smaller than 10 micrometers, an

Nov. 12, 2014

Korea, Vietnam to boost cooperation on the environment

South Korea and Vietnam agreed Monday to expand their cooperation in environmental fields such as biodiversity conservation and sustainable use of biological resources, officials here said.The agreement was reached during a meeting between South Korea’s Environment Minister Yoon Seong-kyu and his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Minh Quang in Vietnam’s capital, Ho Chi Minh City, they said.During the talks, the 11th of its kind, the two ministers agreed to further mutual cooperation for biodiversity

Oct. 27, 2014

Soil contamination near smelter serious: environmental group

An environmental group on Thursday called for a thorough probe into soil pollution and the health of residents near a smelter in a southeastern county, claiming that the surrounding soil has been seriously polluted by metals from the smelter."After conducting an environmental survey together with the Institute for Environmental Survey and Health, we found that the concentrations of cadmium and zinc in soils near the Seokpo Smelter were 4.3-fold and 2.9-fold higher than those near the former Jang

Oct. 23, 2014

S. Korea's Yeosu to host int'l ocean forum on climate change

South Korea will this week host an international ocean forum partly aimed at discussing ways to fight climate change and deal with changing ocean environments, the government said Wednesday.The Yeosu International Ocean Forum 2014 will be held on Thursday and Friday in the southwestern city of Yeosu, also the host city of the 2012 international exposition, according to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries.The two-day forum is expected to draw some 600 officials and experts from around the world,

Oct. 22, 2014

High-level meeting of U.N. biodiversity conference adopts 'Gangwon Declaration'

A high-level meeting of a U.N. biodiversity conference ended Thursday, adopting a declaration that summarizes conservation initiatives and global development suggestions made during the three-week conference.    The two-day meeting was organized as part of the 12th meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which is underway in the eastern city of Pyeongchang, 182 kilometers from Seoul. It brought together some 20 heads of international organizations, including the United Nations D

Oct. 16, 2014

U.N. biodiversity convention opens in S. Korea

Some 20,000 government officials, environmentalists and businesspeople from around the world gathered in the eastern city of Pyeongchang on Monday for a U.N. environmental convention on biodiversity, the environment ministry said.The 12th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, dubbed COP 12, kicked off with a ceremony for a 19-day run, with about 20,000 representatives from 194 countries attending, the ministry said.During the conference themed "Biodi

Sept. 29, 2014

Greenhouse gas levels in atmosphere hit new high: U.N.

GENEVA (AFP) -- Surging levels of carbon dioxide sent greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to a new record in 2013, while oceans, which absorb the emissions, have become more acidic than ever, the UN said on Tuesday."We know without any doubt that our climate is changing and our weather is becoming more extreme due to human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels," said Michel Jarraud, the head of the World Meteorological Organization that released a report on the issue on Tuesday."We must

Sept. 9, 2014

French experts say underground repository the only viable solution

South Korea is now trying to decide what to do with its spent nuclear fuel, but French experts here say there really is only one option not only for South Korea but any country that produces used nuclear fuel -- deep underground burial of the highly radioactive material.France's search for ways to safely manage spent nuclear fuel began in 1991, when it launched research on three methods of nuclear waste disposal, according to Audrey Guillemenet, a spokeswoman for the Meuse Haute-Marne Center of

Sept. 3, 2014

Korea announces termination of avian influenza

South Korea will soon remove most of the restrictions on farms affected by avian influenza since the first outbreak was confirmed earlier in the year, the government said Wednesday.The de facto declaration of the end of the bird flu comes as the last confirmed case was reported on July 25, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs."The lockdown on all farms affected by avian influenza between Jan. 16 and July 25 will be removed as of Sept. 4," the ministry said in a press

Sept. 3, 2014

U.N. proposes building blocks of new global climate deal

The United Nations proposed a set of building blocks for a new global climate agreement, laying the groundwork for a deal to be reached at the end of next year.The UN presented options for the format of the deal including emissions reductions, climate financing from developed to developing nations and how the agreement will be enforced. The information was included in a document posted on the website of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.The document emphasizes the divergence that exi

July 8, 2014

Renewables, nuclear must triple to save climate, UN says

The world needs to triple the energy it gets from renewables, nuclear reactors and power plants that use emissions-capture technology to avoid dangerous levels of global warming, United Nations scientists said. Investments needed to keep climate change within safe limits would shave a fraction of a percent off annual global growth, the UN said today in the third part of its most comprehensive study on warming. A delay in stemming rising greenhouse gases will cut chances to limit the global tempe

April 13, 2014

US plans first cabinet visit to Taiwan in 14 years

The top US environmental official will visit Taiwan in the first trip by a cabinet-level leader from Washington to the Chinese-claimed island in 14 years, officials aid Saturday.Gina McCarthy, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, will travel to Taiwan and Vietnam from Monday through Wednesday to discuss cooperation, her agency said in a statement.The trip would be the first by a cabinet-level US official to Taiwan since 2000 when then US president Bill Clinton sent transport

April 13, 2014

Seoul, Beijing join hands to tackle fine dust

Seoul City signed an agreement with Beijing Thursday to make joint efforts in tackling air pollution, including hazardous ultrafine dust that has been increasingly affecting Northeast Asia.The agreement, signed between Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon and his counterpart Wang Anshun during Park's one-day visit to the Chinese capital, calls for the establishment of an environmental team within a joint committee in charge of economic and cultural exchange projects.The committee, set up by the local gover

April 3, 2014