The Ministry of Environment (Minister Cho Myung-rae) announced that Minister Cho would participate in the G20 Ministerial Meeting on Energy Transitions and Global Environment for Sustainable Growth* as the representative of the government. The meeting will be held in Karuizawa, Nagano, Japan for two days from June 15th.
＊△ The G20 Joint Meeting of Environment and Energy Ministers (June 15th), △ The G20 Environment Ministers Meeting (June 15th and 16th), △ The G20 Energy Ministers Meeting (June 15th and 16th)

The G20 is an international forum that was founded in 2008 by 20 major countries: the U.S. and the other advanced countries that formed the G7, the Presidency of the EU, and 12 emerging market countries, including Korea.
※ G20 member countries: Republic of Korea, United States of America, EU, China, Japan, Germany, United Kingdom, France, India, Italy, Brazil, Canada, Australia, Russia, Mexico, Indonesia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and Argentina

The G20 Joint Meeting of Environment and Energy Ministers, and the G20 Environment Ministers Meeting will be held for the first time this year since the foundation of the G20 Summit in 2008.
※ The G20 Energy Ministers meeting has been held since 2015. (Under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy)


The G20 Environment Ministers Meeting will be joined by Environment Ministers and Vice-Ministers of G20 member countries and other invited countries, and representatives of international organizations, including the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the United Nations Conference on Human Environment (UNEP). .

The main points of the agenda for the meetings will be △ (Joint Ministerial Meeting) “Energy Transitions and Global Environment for Sustainable Growth”, △ (Environment Ministers Meeting) “Resource Efficiency and Marine Plastic Litter”, and “Adaptation and Resilient Infrastructure, including Ecosystem-based approaches”.

Based on the results of the discussions, two communiqu?s (the joint communiqu? of Environment and Energy Ministers, the communiqu? of Environment Ministers) will be adopted at the closing ceremony to be held in the afternoon on June 16th.


In his statement for the Joint Ministerial Meeting on June 15th, Environment Minister Cho Myung-rae will emphasize the following: the need for interrelation between air quality, climate and energy policies; transition to low carbon energy sources through coal phase-out and other measures in solving environmental issues threating health; and the safety of people in regards to issues such as fine dust and climate change. Also, he will share Korea’s policies for the transition to a low carbon economy, such as an expansion of hydrogen and electronic vehicles, and the establishment of the 2050 Long-term Low Carbon Development Strategy.

Meanwhile, at the Environment Ministers Meeting, Minister Cho will share the key policies of Korea regarding resource efficiency promotion, marine plastic waste reduction, and climate change adaptation/climate restoration infrastructure construction. He will emphasize the need for international cooperation on the tasks, and support the “G20 Implementation Framework for Actions on Marine Plastic Litter”, which will be suggested by Japan at the G20 Joint Meeting of Environment and Energy Ministers.

“G20 Implementation Framework for Actions on Marine Plastic Litter” is an action plan to tackle the issues of marine plastic litter and microplastics by sharing the following information among the G20 countries: ① the amount of plastic waste generation, collection and recycle, ② the amount of marine plastic debris inflow, ③ the amount of marine debris collection, ④ the volume of related R&D investments, and ⑤ technologies to develop the technological capacities of other countries in regards to these issues, creating solutions together.

During the meeting period, Minister Cho will also have bilateral meetings with the Environment Ministers of the U.S. and other key member countries to discuss current environmental issues.

Additionally, he will meet Chung Eui-sun, Executive Vice Chairman of Hyundai Motor Group, at the side event of the Hydrogen Council to be held around 1 pm on June 15th. They will discuss ways to disseminate hydrogen vehicles as well as test-drive a hydrogen vehicle (NEXO).
* In Davos in January 2017, the committee (which currently has 54 member companies from 11 countries) was founded by finished car manufacturers, auto component suppliers, and energy companies promote the use of hydrogen energy for climate change adaptation.