President Lee Myung-bak Declares Official Launch of the Global Green Growth Institute at East Asia Climate Forum 2010
?
?
June 16, 2010, Seoul ?President Lee Myung-bak announced the establishment of the Global Green Growth Institute at the East Asia Climate Forum 2010 held on June 16, 2010.
President Lee Myung-bak of the Republic of Korea proclaimed during his keynote speech, “I will ensure that the GGGI will evolve into a permanent common asset of the international community by 2012.”
Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations highlighted in his video message during the East Asia Climate Forum 2010, “the GGGI will significantly contribute to a variety of UN’s activities regarding climate change.”
Lord Nicholas Stern, professor of the London School of Economics and Political Science said, “the GGGI will become a global think tank that presents a new growth paradigm at the age of the second industrial revolution which is well represented by challenges of climate change and energy.”
The board of directors of the GGGI held its first meeting on Tuesday, June 15, 2010, to confirm that the institute will provide initial support to help three countries including Indonesia, Brazil, and Ethiopia to draw green growth plans and launch a joint research project with University of Oxford to develop an emission reduction analysis model.
# # #
President Lee announced the opening of the Global Green Growth Institute during his keynote speech for the East Asia Climate Forum 2010 held at The Shilla, Seoul, Korea on May 16, 2010 with more than 500 attendees from home and abroad.
He pledged, “I will ensure that the GGGI will evolve into a permanent common asset of the international community by 2012” by turning the institute to an international organization by then.
“The Korean government, as a leading founder of the institute, will be active in providing human and financial resources necessary for the GGGI’s establishment and initial operation,” he said.
He also proposed that the GGGI annually hold the Global Green Growth Conference in line with the East Asia Climate Forum to help share of best practices regarding green growth and green technologies around the world including Korea.
Highlighting significance of market-driven green growth, President Lee said, “The Korean government will continue to increase the budget for research and development activities to develop green technologies and improve Korea’s tax schemes and financial policies to create green businesses and related jobs.
*Note: The GGGI hopes to play a central role in developing and disseminating green technologies in the international community.
Ban, Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations, in his video message during the East Asia Climate Forum 2010, congratulated the opening of the GGGI and showed confidence that the Global Green Growth Institute can support United Nations’ effort to reduce extreme poverty, promote sustainable development and strengthen global partnership for the common good.”
Lord Nicholas Stern, professor of the London School of Economics and Political Science, said that climate change presents not only a challenge, but also an opportunity in terms of new energy sources or manufacturing system as much as the first industrial revolution did.
He touched upon the green growth leadership of Korea, a country which is a guiding light for economic development, particularly for the developing world, would become a great asset for the GGGI.
He also stressed that the GGGI was required to build world-class analysis capabilities to provide meaningful green growth methodologies to the world.
The board of directors of the GGGI held its first meeting on 15 June 2010, Tuesday before the climate forum chaired by Dr. Han Seung-soo, former Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea, and attended by Thomas Heller, professor of Stanford University, USA, Shin Kak-soo, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Kim Sang-hyup, Secretary to the President for the Future and Vision and Co-Secretary General of the Presidential Committee on Green Growth.
They decided to increase the number of directors from home and abroad up to about 15 and select Executive Director of the institute with excellent capabilities and unmatched global experiences through an open international recruitment process.
In the meeting, three countries, Indonesia, Brazil, and Ethiopia, were selected as the beneficiaries for the GGGI’s first support programs for green growth planning.
*Note: The support programs will be extended to one or two more countries within 2010.
Also, the board agreed that the GGGI will launch a joint project with University of Oxford to develop a model which analyses the amount of potential emission reduction.
The Korean government will take the initiative by funding about $10 million on an annual basis for the first three years while the GGGI will be operated based on the voluntary financing from member countries.
?
Three or four countries are interested in fund cooperation, and overseas NGOs including ClimateWorks Foundation and Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) have expressed their will for active contribution.
* ClimateWorks Foundation promised rapid response, sharing its analysis tools including macro
model and knowledge, and providing 1 million dollars of cash. Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) also decided to donate 1 million dollars for establishment of GGGI.
To raise GGGI’s internationality in the future, the government will gradually increase the portion of fund raising from foreign governments and foundations.
Media Contact:
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Energy and Climate Change Division
(+822-2100-7748)
Press_release_President_Lee_declares_the_official_launchofthe_GGGI.doc