South Korea has stepped up efforts to get powerful polluting industries to accept an emissions trading scheme by saying carbon trading is just another industry and one that's good for the economy. The government has already delayed the introduction of emission trading laws into the parliament until February instead of this month amid opposition from business groups, a government official said earlier.
President Lee Myung-bak urged industries to change their perception of carbon trading, which is a major part of his administration's green-growth drive, and achieving a pledge to reduce South Korea's greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent from projected levels by 2020.
"Most of the companies regard the carbon emissions trading as a regulation but co-operation would be tough if (they) think it is a regulation," a spokesman at the Ministry of Environment quoted Lee as saying. "It is important to understand the trading scheme in a positive way that it is another industry and helps economic growth," Lee said when the Ministry of Environment reported its 2011 policy plans on Monday.
The government has pledged to spend billions of dollars on supporting investment in wind, solar and nuclear energy as well as helping South Korean firms to ramp-up exports of clean-energy goods. Emissions trading schemes have proved a tough sell for many big polluting economies, with the US government forced to shelve its climate legislation because of opposition from lawmakers and some business sectors. Australia is trying to revive its efforts by pledging to settle on a carbon pricing scheme in 2011, after shelving carbon trading laws this year.
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