In line with the decision of the first year of the transition to a carbon-neutral society in Changwon, the Korea Institute of Materials Science(KIMS), a government-funded research institute under the Ministry of Science and ICT, gave a special lecture on the theme of‘carbon neutrality and ESG management’.

On February 22nd (Wednesday), KIMS invited more than 20 employees, including Jin-yeol Park, Director of the Climate and Environment Bureau of Changwon City Hall, to introduce the responsible attitude and the role of material technology, referring to changes in the future society that begin with climate change, environmental pollution, and aging. In this particular lecture, Jung-hwan Lee, President of the KIMS, gave a talk on ‘Dreaming future society, ESG is essential, not optional’, and Jun-hwan Choi, head of the Carbon Neutrality Material Technology Research Planning Department at KIMS, gave a lecture on ‘KIMS carbon-neutral technology status’.

Carbon neutrality refers to zero net emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) to protect the planet. When the temperature rises by more than 2℃, natural disasters such as heat waves and cold waves that are difficult for humans to handle occur. Limiting temperature rise to 1.5℃ is predicted to significantly reduce risks to biodiversity, health, livelihoods, food security, human security, and economic growth. In the end, to suppress the global temperature to within 1.5, which is the limit for human survival, it is necessary to transform into a carbon-neutral society in which net carbon emissions are zero by 2050.

Changwon City has set this year as the year to focus its administrative power on the ‘realization of 2050 carbon neutrality’. In line with the government’s Carbon Neutral Green Growth Basic Plan, 98 tasks are planned to be implemented in a total of five sectors: energy conversion, industry, transportation, building, waste, and absorption. This special lecture was prepared for emphasizing the need to focus a lot of capacity on carbon neutrality to solve climate problems. It is expected to be an opportunity to enhance administrative capabilities that can be applied to municipal administration based on an understanding of ESG management.

In this lecture, Jung-hwan Lee, President of the KIMS, said, “To overcome the obstacles in ESG management, various tasks such as investment support for carbon dioxide (CO2) emission reduction, development of decarbonization innovation technologies, preemptive construction of renewable and hydrogen energy supply infrastructure, rationalization of regulations such as legal systems, and establishment of cooperative networks must be solved in advance”. “I sincerely hope that our society can wisely cope with the upcoming crisis of the future society with the government’s active R&D support and close cooperation with the industry,“ he continued.