Ambassador on Climate and the Environment Na Kyung-won on Nov. 8 gives a speech at the 27th U.N. Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP27) in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. (Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

By Lee Kyoung Mi 

Ambassador on Climate and the Environment Na Kyung-won, who is attending the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP27) in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, as a special presidential envoy, pledged active cooperation to support "effective climate actions" of developing countries.

In a speech on Nov. 8 at the summit, she said, "Our government has made 'global pivotal nation' as a major diplomacy goal and designated response to climate change a core issue," adding, "The previous administration's goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% is a very ambitious goal for the Korean economy, which is based on manufacturing, but we decided to keep this goal to keep our pledge to the international community."

The annual conference gathers world leaders to discuss responses to climate change under the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate adopted in 1992 by the U.N. Conference on Environment and Development. Germany hosted the inaugural edition in 1995.

Ambassador Na mentioned the strategy for carbon neutrality and green growth recently proposed by her government through the Presidential Commission on Carbon Neutrality and Green Growth. "We plan to promote carbon-neutral green growth based on responsible execution, orderly transition and innovation," she added.

She stressed that Korea will share its climate technology based on science and innovation and expand green official development assistance through the Green Climate Fund, Global Green Growth Institute, and the liaison office of the Climate Technology Centre and Network to actively help developing countries achieve a green transition.

During COP27, she held bilateral summits with Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba and Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe on cooperation in responding to climate change.

Ambassador Na also attended the conference's Forest and Climate Leaders' Summit to discuss the importance of forests and need to expand them to respond to climate change.

A judge-turned-politician who served four terms in the National Assembly, she is the minister-level deputy chair of the Presidential Committee on Ageing Society and Population Policy in charge of policy toward the country's low birth rate and rapidly aging society.

km137426@korea.kr