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| Country Director Mike Welch at the British Embassy in Seoul's Department for International Trade speaks during the "Coffee for zero plastic" event jointly organized by the embassy and Dohwa Engineering in Gangnam-gu, southern Seoul, Feb. 21. / British Embassy |
By Yi Whan-woo
The British Embassy in Seoul encouraged using less plastic when drinking coffee during an event last week as part of its "Green is GREAT" campaign, which highlights the United Kingdom's hosting of the 2020 U.N. Climate Summit in November.
To be held in Glasgow, the summit is also called COP 26 in reference to the 26th Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
The "Coffee for zero plastic" event, jointly organized with construction consulting firm Dohwa Engineering, was held at company premises in Gangnam-gu, southern Seoul, Feb. 21.
The embassy and the engineering consulting firm offered free coffee to Dohwa Engineering staff who brought their own coffee cups or mugs.
"This is a critical year for our planet. A truly global effort is required from governments, businesses and each member of society," said Mike Welch, the embassy's country director for the Department of International Trade.
He thanked Dohwa Engineering for its support and expressed hope of celebrating "even more collaboration between it and U.K. companies in the future."
"If we work together to develop and deploy clean technologies, we can accelerate innovation, increase economies of scale, and bring down costs more quickly," Welch added.
The "Green is GREAT" campaign is to raise awareness of the U.K.'s environmental protection efforts and also to encourage the global community to combat climate change.
The U.K. is committed to becoming the first major economy to reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2050 and also slashing corporate tax rates to be among the lowest in the Western hemisphere.
The U.K.'s reliance on coal is below 5 percent of its total energy use, while its use of renewable energy grew to 40 percent between 1990 and 2017.
The U.K. has the world's largest installed offshore wind capacity, with over a third of global capacity.
Through the offshore Wind Sector Deal announced in 2019, the country plans to deliver up to 30 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity by 2030.
It has been estimated that the low carbon economy in the U.K. could grow four times faster than the rest of the economy up to 2030 and could deliver up to 170 billion pounds ($220 million) in exports by 2030.
