South Korean president calls for East Asian carbon fund

Lee: $200m investment needed

South Korean president Lee Myung-bak used an expanded meeting of the G8 summit in Japan yesterday to announce the formation of a pact between his country, Japan and China to combat climate change.

President Lee called for an initial investment of US$200m from the governments involved to set up the East Asia Climate Partnership. He also announced that next year South Korea will set targets for carbon reduction by 2020.

As part of the non-Annex I Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, South Korea does not yet have any obligations to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.

The G8 leaders promised to ‘seriously consider’ halving emissions by 2050.

President Lee proposed that the East Asia Climate Partnership should aim to enable developing countries in East Asia to achieve their growth goals while reducing emissions. The plan calls for initial funding of US$200m over the next five years, to be used for formulating carbon reduction policies and implementing pilot projects.

In his speech, president Lee emphasised the need to expand market-based incentives for breaking the deadlock between developed and developing countries on emissions reduction – seen as vital to the success of a post-2012 global climate change settlement.

Specifically, president Lee wants to expand the scope of the UN’s Clean Development Mechanism, which promotes investments by developing countries in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The mechanism grants carbon credits to developing nations that take action to reduce emissions, which can then be traded with polluters in developed nations.