/ Courtesy of SDX Foundation

Korean firms will be urged at an upcoming forum hosted by SDX Foundation to work together to realize a more effective decarbonization ecosystem and bring the country closer to going RE100, which refers to relying on renewables and nothing else, according to the non-profit organization, Tuesday.

"ReWorld Forum 2024" in Seoul on April 24 aims to persuade the firms, regardless of their size and capacity, to jointly work at building mutual partnerships and prevent the country's economy from falling behind the global campaign for carbon neutrality.

The forum comes as the country's overall efforts and outcomes for harnessing renewable energies to reach the globally shared goal fall short of those of advanced countries, according to experts.

"We'll debate over how the Korean firms should set their management strategies and how to execute them to accomplish sustainable growth and overcome the climate crisis," SDX Foundation Chairman Jhun Ha-jin said. "As the Korean firms are increasingly being held by global trade hurdles based on their life cycle assessments, the forum will propose to those firms various digital solutions to improve their environmental assessment reports and sustain their businesses."

In four separate sessions, with panel talks, speakers will discuss the latest global trends on RE100 and the country's progress toward the goal.

UN Global Impact Korea Executive Director Yoo Yeon-chul will deliver an opening speech on the ongoing environmental efforts worldwide and how Korea should respond to them. Choi Jung-kiu, managing director and partner at Boston Consulting Group, Singapore, will follow up with examples of how global firms have been mutually cooperating with smaller firms to jointly achieve carbon neutrality.

The head of the Environment and Energy Research Institute, Kim Sung-woo, at the law firm Kim & Chang, will speak about six key strategies global enterprises are using to respond to climate issues in their businesses.

A senior official from LS Electric's power grid marketing division will propose energy efficiency solutions to advance companies' electricity management and meet the conditions of RE100 and the European Union's carbon border adjustment mechanism.

Space usage researcher S&I Corp's CEO and the forum's joint organizer Hyung Won-joon and other representatives of firms will discuss how companies can jointly control carbon emissions as a group through open-innovation, supply chains with transparent carbon footprints, and voluntary carbon market (VCM).

Voluntary Carbon Market Association Chairman Yoo Je-chul, who previously served as the country's vice-minister of environment during 2022–23, will highlight the current VCM trends worldwide and why the country needs a market-friendly ecosystem oriented toward carbon reduction.