Reasons for Proposal
Although global warming and the resulting climate change and sea-level rise are emerging as urgent problems, the current Framework Act on Low Carbon, Green Growth is not specialized in responding to climate change or low carbon and only focuses on green growth.
The Special Act on the Reduction and Management of Fine Dust performs important functions in the preservation and improvement of the air environment and requires the establishment and operation of the National Council on Climate and Air Quality, but fine dust reduction does not lead to greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction.
The cap-and-trade system under the Act on the Allocation and Trading of Greenhouse-Gas Emission Permits, which is based on the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol, focuses on the formation of a market mechanism for trading GHGs with emission permits rather than controlling the total amount of GHGs.
This Bill aims to raise the GHG reduction target, which was previously only the target of the government, to the national target and develop it into the responsibility of all members of the country to focus on the reduction of GHGs at the level of climate justice and to promote cultural transformation that adapts to climate change.
This Bill also intends to maintain the temporal adhesion of the Framework Act on Low Carbon, Green Growth and the Act on the Allocation and Trading of Greenhouse-Gas Emission Permits to make the most of existing relevant Acts and institutional devices.
The Committee on Climate Change pursuant to this Bill is a "friend of an organization" that provides advice or performs advisory functions to the head of the relevant central administrative agencies or related administrative agencies rather than it performs command-control functions like an independent regulatory committee such as the Low Carbon Green Growth Committee.
This Bill aims to realize the spirit of environmental cooperation by adopting an agreement system or convention system based on communities since the reduction of GHGs or adaptation to climate change is difficult to achieve only with the efforts of the central government and thus, requires the voluntary participation of residents as well as local governments.
Details
A. This Bill aims to cooperate to ensure that the global temperature does not rise more than 1.5℃ above the pre-industrialization average temperature and aims to establish a fair and equitable foundation for realizing climate justice between generations, classes, and regions (Article 1).
B. In addition to the GHG reduction target under the Framework Act on Low Carbon, Green Growth, the government, citizens, communities, and businesses aim to achieve carbon neutrality with net national GHG emissions of zero by 2050 (Article 2).
C. Establish the Committee on Climate Change, which is composed of 7 members, to advise and analyze climate change, provide information, or assist at the request of the competent minister, related organizations, or communities (Article 5).
D. The Committee on Climate Change shall directly submit plans required for its affairs or activities to the National Assembly every year, and the government shall annually establish an appropriate budget for the Committee’s activities (Article 6).
E. The heads of the relevant central administrative agencies establish and implement GHG reduction plans in consultation with the industries and the communities based on cooperation (Article 7).
F. The heads of the relevant central administrative agencies may conclude GHG reduction agreements with energy production, distribution, or consumption business entities or controlled business entities pursuant to the Framework Act on Low Carbon, Green Growth and provide other incentives or benefits to the controlled business entities (Article 9).
G. Communities such as local governments, together with their members, may receive advice from the Committee on Climate Change to set and allocate GHG reduction targets in their jurisdiction and may establish action plans for the reduction or climate change adaptation plans or conclude community agreements that promote the formation of a resource circulating society (Article 10).
H. The heads of the relevant central administrative agencies may enter into voluntary agreements with the heads of local governments to promote community agreements (Article 11).
I. The heads of the relevant central administrative agencies may adjust the system and ratio of the obligation to supply new and renewable energy, make the supply of renewable transportation fuels mandatory, and implement the feed-in-tariff system; and those who are obliged to supply new and renewable energy shall preferentially purchase electricity produced by new and renewable energy power producers (Article 12).
J. The heads of the relevant central administrative agencies shall notify the list of resources, not waste, to be recycled, out of the system that recognizes recycled resources from waste, and consider resource circulation such as forms, designs, products, parts, and materials, to devise ways to promote their reuse or recycling; and the heads of the local governments may impose charges for the use and discharge of plastic and issue administrative orders restricting the use and discharge of packaging and disposables (Article 13).
K. The Minister of Foreign Affairs shall elicit the cooperation between the relevant central administrative agencies so that the domestic implementation of 1.5℃ pursuant to the Paris Agreement can be harmonized with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), shall report the activity results and alternatives of the relevant central administrative agencies to the National Assembly, and he/her may share necessary information with relevant international organizations such as the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (Article 15).
