President of the Green Business Committee of the SK Group, Jun Kim, has called for improved participation of the private sector in the ongoing global response to tackle climate change.
Kim who made the call during a dialogue on building a green, healthy and resilient future with forests at the 15th World Forestry Congress in Seoul, South Korea, said the net-zero goal means cutting greenhouse gas emissions to as close as zero by 2050.
Kim, who doubles as the Vice President and Chief Executive Officer, SK Innovation, noted that there was a limit to what government alone could do to achieve the net-zero goal.
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According to him, achieving the net-zero target by 2050 would require the corporate sector to conduct risk management on regulations established by the government, adding that incentives will be the most effective tool.
“If we look at the action of government, it is mostly related to regulations; but we need to go beyond regulations,” he said. “We need to ensure that government facilitates the activities of the private sector through incentives”.
Speaking further, the business mogul further said that there was the need to ensure that the people became proactive in responding to climate change for the survival of companies.
“We need to have a change in mindset and only when there is a change in mindset we can have a change in action,” he said. “If we have the recognition to be proactive in climate change, then we can come out with bold goals beyond what is necessitated by regulations”.
Kim recalled that all companies in the SK group had in June 2021 declared a goal of net zero before 2050, with some even declaring a bold goal of achieving it by 2030, adding that the group achieved 200 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emission reduction, one per cent of the total net-zero goal by 2050, within a month of setting the goal.
The story was adapted from the Eagle online.
