GGGI, New Zealand ink deal to help Pacific island nations fight climate change

Social Affairs

Published: 26 Aug. 2020, 16:06 Updated: 26 Aug. 2020, 16:14

GGGI, New Zealand ink deal to help Pacific island nations fight climate change

New Zealand Ambassador to Korea Philip Turner, front row left, and Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) Director-General Frank Rijsberman, front row right, shake hands Tuesday at the GGGI headquarters in Jung District, central Seoul, after finalizing a partnership to help Pacific island countries tackle climate change. [GGGI]

The Seoul-based Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) has sealed a multimillion-dollar partnership with New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade to help Pacific island nations tackle climate change.

Over the next three years, the New Zealand government will provide 4.7 million New Zealand dollars ($3.1 million) to the GGGI for a project aimed at helping Pacific island nations “plan effectively for low-emission, climate-resilient futures,” the GGGI and New Zealand’s Foreign Ministry said in a joint press release Tuesday.

The GGGI will help the island countries develop climate change policies, plans and investment road maps along a wide range of sectors including electricity, transport, agriculture, tourism and urban planning, the release stated.

“As countries set out their economic recovery strategies from the Covid-19 pandemic, there are opportunities to accelerate climate action, and this partnership will utilize this crucial time to make change,” it said.

“There is an opportunity to build back ‘greener,’ and opinion polls show that there is public support for that in Covid-19 recovery plans.”

The arrangement was signed Tuesday at the GGGI’s Seoul headquarters by GGGI Director-General Frank Rijsberman and New Zealand Ambassador to Korea Philip Turner, with New Zealand Foreign Ministry officials joining virtually from Wellington, New Zealand’s capital.

“GGGI is pleased to expand its partnership with New Zealand to support Pacific island countries transition to low-emission, climate-resilient development — and to do so with a partner that has itself committed to bold climate action under a Zero Carbon Bill that sets a net-zero target for almost all greenhouse gas emissions by 2050,” said Rijsberman.

Turner said, “The launch of today’s partnership demonstrates our commitment to meaningful action on climate change, particularly for countries in the Pacific that are most vulnerable. We must not lose sight of the need for collective and decisive climate action alongside recovery from Covid-19.”

BY LEE SUNG-EUN [lee.sungeun@joongang.co.kr]