K-Go Green! K-Go Green! In today’s dynamic world, the topic of sustainability has been an ever-increasing issue, with total global greenhouse gas emissions increasing every year. Creating a carbon-neutral economy has never been more important, and in recent years, technologically advanced countries such as South Korea have seen a drastic increase in policies and efforts to create a greener world. The industrial sector of South Korea started rapid development during the 1960s, and the period of greatest growth occurred during the 1980s. Till around the 2000s, there were almost no efforts to produce the nation’s environment. After environmental sustainability and emissions were deemed worldwide issues, South Korea quickly started enacting policies to protect them. Perhaps most notably, South Korea has defined sustainability not only in terms of environmental sustainability but also societal and financial sustainability, including curbing animal cruelty and empowering younger generations. All three facets must work together in harmony to create a successful country. In terms of environmental sustainability, the Green New Deal in South Korea is an outline that was produced following the European New Deal to increase sustainability and reduce carbon in the future. Korea’s Green New Deal is actually part of a broader New Deal that the country wanted to enact, highlighting social and poverty issues as well. The different sectors of the Green New Deal include Eco-friendly Mobility, Green Energy, Green Architecture, and many others. The video to the right describes the implications of the climate crisis as an opportunity to create new jobs in the economy. The video also delves into an introduction to the Green New Deal in Simple Terms. [Similar media in English: Interview with Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz] Korean Beauty K-Beauty has exerted a strengthening influence on the beauty market worldwide, known for its effectiveness and sustainability. Several K-Beauty brands have made their products sustainable in the market, by reducing overall waste, curbing animal cruelty, and promoting natural skin revitalizers. Reduction of Plastic Waste/Packaging The reduction of plastic waste and packaging has been at the forefront of the focus of K-Beauty companies. Toun28’s CEO, Maria Jung, is a cosmetics researcher of 15 years. Her company has assessed the environmental impact of regular makeup product containers and conducted research to design new packaging with recyclable paper, dubbed the “Paper” container package. This packaging utilizes certified recyclable paper for the majority of the container, as well as “abandoned leather pieces” that are repurposed into labels for the products. Yonwoo is another company that has a similar approach. They are collectively working on manufacturing and utilizing eco-friendly plastic, and editing parameters such as the thickness of containers, finding the sweet spot between too much and too little material used. Cruelty-Free Beauty Products Korean Beauty is quick to note that an important part of the environment is its wildlife. Sustainability is not just about preserving plants and landscapes, but also their inhabitants. Because Korean skincare’s primary focus is on preventing skin problems rather than simply just hiding them, the focus shifts from animal and chemical products to plant-based products. As such, many Korean Beauty brands emphasize the use of natural vegan products in cosmetic items, which in turn do not utilize animal products. South Korea has also banned animal testing as of 2018, so using vegan skincare brands from Korea ensures a 0% animal cruelty rate. Vegan K-Beauty brands include Saturday Skin, Purito, and Sweet Chef. Overall Benefits Beauty products are known for their extensive use of packaging, and this is the most visible ecological impact of these products. However, a lesser talked-about facet of the beauty industry is its heavy usage of water. Korean Beauty companies have therefore attempted to reduce their usage of this scarce resource by promoting waterless beauty products, instead formulating their products on aloe vera juice, plant extracts, and the like. Since all of these are also active ingredients, it means that customers aren’t given a ‘watered-down’ version of the beauty product. Therefore, waterless beauty promotes sustainability and in turn, benefits the skin of customers even more so. . Alternative Energy and Architecture South Korea has historically been known as a top innovator in technology, however, its extensive use of smart technology and devices leads to major energy consumption in the country. South Korea’s energy is currently less renewable than most of the developed world. Still, with the efforts of domestic energy providers, the future of the country’s energy is surely progressing to a more renewable state. Solar, Wind, and Nuclear Renewable Energy Sources Due to the stipulations of the Green New Deal, South Korea’s energy providers have turned to renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, and nuclear energy. As of 2022, only 3.8% of generated electricity in South Korea comes from wind and solar energy, one of the worst ratios in the world. This number must be increased to 20% by 2030 to meet the demands of the Green New Deal. Both Korean and international investors are realizing the potential of offshore wind energy production in South Korea, emphasized by the pronounced wind patterns at sea. Most of the challenges South Korea faces in transitioning to renewable energy are obtaining permits and licenses and the high installation costs of renewable infrastructure. The returns, however, are great, and the future of renewable energy production in South Korea looks bright. Sustainable Architecture In response to the Green New Deal put in place by the South Korean government, South Korean architecture has seen a drastic rise in sustainable practices. Korean sustainability concerns arose from the Green New Deal and extensive research has been done to cut back the energy consumption of Korean society. A firm called Byoung Soo Cho Architects, led by an architect of the same name, has been innovating sustainable architecture since 1994. The firm pays special attention to the use of light and space. Utilizing natural lighting and pairing it with space efficiently automatically cuts the need for artificial light sources during the day. Byung Soo Cho architects also utilize sustainable fabrication methods to reduce waste going back into the environment. The mission of the firm and many firms like it is clear: create more out of less. In other words, cut the use of resources negatively impacting the environment, and increase the utility of their structures. Alternative Combustion Sources Due to South Korea’s goal of achieving Carbon Neutrality by 2050, combustion has been one of the most important areas of innovation. Combustion is used to produce mechanical power, which is converted to electric power via generators. Traditionally, combustion has been done with sources such as natural gas, diesel, kerosene, etc, which are all forms of hydrocarbons. 10 institutions in Korea, with the help of Seoul National University, have been leading an effort to develop a hydrogen gas turbine that uses much less carbon to abide by Korean government policies. This turbine would use 50% natural gas and 50% hydrogen fuel, effectively curbing carbon emissions by up to 23%. Hydrogen is one of the most efficient forms of renewable energy. Realistically, the majority of the energy production in South Korea cannot be done simply with clean energy such as solar and wind energy. The combustion of hydrogen and other carbonless fuels is necessary for enough reliable energy production to power a country, and in the future landscape of renewable energy, hydrogen will likely take a significant chunk of the energy sources available. Medical Waste Practices and Resource Reduction Although the Medical sector in South Korea has a significant hand in contributing to negative environmental impacts, it is much less talked about than other fields at the forefront of environmentalists’ minds. COVID-19 was instrumental in helping several advancements in hygiene and environmental sustainability in South Korea, especially due to the sheer amount of resources needed during the pandemic. COVID-19 Waste Management Previous medical waste efforts in South Korea were limited, as medical waste was mixed in with municipal waste, leading to potential biohazards. To mitigate this, waste management systems are necessary, and the onslaught of COVID-19 in 2020 created an urgent need for safe and environmentally sustainable disposal methods.To reduce the energy used to incinerate medical waste, the South Korean government has considered utilizing general municipal incinerators to incinerate general medical waste, leaving hazardous medical waste to specialized incinerators. General municipal incinerators use less power than specialized ones for medical waste. In this way, the amount of harm possible from each article of medical waste could be assessed, and if it is under a certain threshold, it could just be incinerated in general incinerators. Circularity of the Healthcare Sector South Korea has been making huge strides in the medical industry, and data taken between 2002 and 2015 indicates that fossil fuel emissions from the industry have greatly improved. However, it is important to note that the negative environmental impacts of the industry have actually increased due to the doubling of global healthcare spending. This article mentions an additional point of interest, which encourages healthcare corporations to add “social value” to the communities they serve. This would offset the harm done to communities as a result of the environmental effects of the healthcare industry. Proposed methods to do this include only buying goods from suppliers that plan to quantify their environmental responsibility, and using ethical/low carbon supply chain monitoring. Biomedical Engineering JW Chemitown, a company that is a subsidiary of the JW group in South Korea, is a specialized manufacturer of infusion solutions for medication. They have developed a “Non-PVC” film and tube infusion that is reportedly harmless to the human body, and also eco-friendly. JW Chemitown warns that PVC film poses a threat to the environment especially due to a chemical called dioxin, a serious environmental pollutant that comes about as a byproduct of manufacturing processes. Upon disposal through incineration, non-PVC products would neither produce dioxin nor certain harmful plasticizers, posing a clear benefit to the environment. Food and Agriculture With most of South Korea’s youth opting to leave behind family farming professions for a more urbanized job, the number of farmers in South Korea is projected to dwindle over the next few decades. This, along with growing environmental concerns for maintaining arable land, has encouraged South Korea to start employing sustainable agricultural and food packaging methods to create the most productivity out of the least resources. Korean Natural Farming Korean Natural Farming is a sustainable farming method that utilizes only natural materials and not chemical fertilizers. IMOs (indigenous microorganisms) are used to cultivate crops. This method removes the need for pesticides capable of environmental pollution through contamination and runoff. Many people outside the country, including those in the U.S., have expressed their awe at how much KNF increased the quality and production of their crops. The creator of the KNF method is Jo Han-Kyu, born in 1935 in Suwon, South Korea. He saw the value in his father’s natural farming methods at a young age and saw how much the crops would be hurt with artificial pesticides and fertilizers. After conducting extensive research on this topic in Japan, he developed the organic KNF method. Sustainable Food Packaging With the onset of COVID-19, food delivery has been an increasingly active phenomenon, resulting in food packaging drastically increasing. A survey was conducted by the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation on ‘awareness of sustainable food packaging’ to determine how many people were aware or interested in sustainable food packaging, and an overwhelming 98.3% of respondents answered that they were interested. Most of the consumers were interested in the sake of environmental protection. Many consumers and businesses are interested in simply altering packing materials to be more environmentally friendly, for example, removing the labels from bottled items and leaving just the plastic. Building off of this sentiment, Lotte Chilsung Beverage introduced Korea’s first label-free PET water bottle, with the actual “labeling” being an extrusion on the plastic bottle itself. Growing Vegetarianism/Veganism In light of the environmental crisis that is upon the world, there has been an increased interest in vegetarianism and veganism. South Korea especially has seen high increases in interest and efforts to follow a more eco-friendly diet. With South Korea’s high dependence on a meat diet, so-called “flexitarians” try to incorporate vegetarianism into their diet by setting their own schedule of how many vegetarian meals they will eat in a week. A lot of greenhouse gases are emitted in the production of livestock, with 15% of the world’s emissions coming from the livestock industry, and 65% of that coming from raising the world’s cattle, namely from the methane produced in their daily living and eating. South Korea has also seen an increased interest in “vegan” fashion for similar reasons. Environmental policies being put into place is only one piece of the puzzle to create an eco-friendly country. Therefore, the Korean Environmental Education Center was created and introduced in 2000 as an effort to educate citizens of the country on the importance of eco-friendly practices. By encouraging the development of eco-friendly values in the people of South Korea, especially the youth, South Korea can march towards a sustainable economy and get closer to the overall goal of becoming carbon neutral, or even carbon negative. Sustainability in South Korea comes in many different forms, and the country has even been able to address sustainability issues in sectors that aren’t thought to have as much of an impact on the environment. There is still much work to be done, but with South Korea’s multifaceted focus, it seems the country is marching towards creating a greener world for everyone.