South Korea unveils action plan for “green growth”

The South Korean government will push for legislation this year to control pollution by capping allowable greenhouse gas emissions and introducing official statistics on carbon output, a presidential committee said. The move is part of a wider effort to cut South Korea’s carbon emissions by 30% from a 2020 forecast, or a 4% reduction from 2005 levels. In 2009, the Lee Myung-bak administration set out a five-year green-growth plan that calls for the country to spend 2% of its gross domestic product each year on developing environmentally friendly businesses and projects. The government plans to introduce 28,000 more environmentally friendly buses by 2012 and provide various incentives to achieve a 20% reduction in food waste by the same year, according to the committee. (February 3, 2010)