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'Tackle climate change through everyday actions': Seoul hosts EU Green Day Festival 2025

Published: 09 Nov. 2025, 18:18

LEE SOO-JUNG
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European Union (EU)'s Ambassador to Korea Ugo Astuto speaks during the opening ceremony for the EU Green Day Festival 2025 held at the Namsangol Hanok Village in central Seoul on Nov. 9. [LEE SOO-JUNG]

The Delegation of the European Union (EU) to Korea on Sunday held the EU Green Day Festival 2025 in Namsangol Hanok Village, central Seoul, providing a platform for European nations to join hands with Korean civil society and individuals to tackle climate change through everyday actions.

During his opening remarks, EU Ambassador to Korea Ugo Astuto stressed that a collective endeavor between governments, civil society, industries and individuals is crucial to attain the targets of the 2015 Paris Agreement, the world's first global treaty that does its best to ensure that the global temperature does not rise by more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit).

Astuto noted that Korea is an “essential and like-minded” partner in tackling global climate change. Korea and the EU ratified the Green Partnership in 2023, reaffirming their bilateral commitment to the Paris Agreement and to curb their greenhouse gas emissions to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

“We — as the EU — are pioneers of the global effort with the Green Deal, which sets a clear road map to make Europe climate neutral by 2050,” he said. Climate neutrality refers to a state of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions.

The festival featured trivia at booths run by the embassies of seven EU member states — Estonia, Finland, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Germany, Slovenia and Sweden — where visitors could learn about each nation’s environmental policies and projects.

Visitors were also able to participate in plogging, or picking up litter while jogging, and DIY workshops in the afternoon.

BY LEE SOO-JUNG [[email protected]]