IPCC head chides Korean firms' low environmental awareness

By Choi Sung-jin

"Even Exxon Mobile, the world's largest oil company, has supported the Paris conference on climate change. What a contrast! (to Korean businesses)." 

So said Lee Hoe-sung, chairman of the International Panel on Climate Change, while meeting with Korean reporters on Thursday. He was referring to the announcement made earlier by the Federation of Korean Industries, in which lobbyists for the large family-run business groups expressed concerns about "excessive actions" by the Korean delegation at the Paris meeting. 

Lee noted that Exxon Mobile has agreed on the need for carbon pricing, such as imposing carbon taxes for heavy-emitting countries and corporations. The FKI and other industrial lobbies had opposed the emission trading system even before its implementation. 

"Korea has no fossil energy resources, which means the nation doesn't need to hesitate at all," Lee said, pointing out that Korean businesses are regarding climate change just as a cost, unlike other advanced countries that see new opportunities and new markets in climate change. 

Stressing how to cope with climate change has become a big global issue, the 69-year-old IPCC head said, "Countries that can make the most of this trend will become winners in the new global system that will unfold."