The country is boosting its policy toward green and energy transition. Shown is a solar power plant on Jarado Island in the township of Anjwa-myeon in Sinan-gun County, Jeollanam-do Province. (Sinan-gun Office)

By Uyen Nguyen

The Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment is boosting support for the green transformation of developing countries through expanding cooperation with the World Bank Group to include energy transition.

The ministry on June 11 said it signed an amendment to a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the group to expand ties in climate crisis response, water management, circular economy and energy transition at the hotel Four Points by Sheraton Josun in Seoul's Yongsan-gu District.

This revision seeks to reorganize the scope and entities of cooperation based on the results since the MOU's signing in 2017.

Cooperation will go beyond a focus on the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Development Association to expand to the International Finance Corporation and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, covering the entire group.

The scope of partnership will also be greatly broadened. Energy transition was added as an area of cooperation alongside climate and the environment. The water sector was also reorganized from its focus on quality management to an integrated supervisory system spanning resource management.

The two institutions will continue comprehensive cooperation including information sharing on support for developing countries, exchanges of experts, joint research, promotion of new projects, and support for the design of climate and environmental improvements and energy transition.

Deputy Minister Oh Il-young, the head of the ministry's Climate and Energy Policy Office, said, "We will actively participate in achieving the Nationally Determined Contributions of Korea and developing countries and back their green transition."

uyen81@korea.kr