Embassy of Denmark co-hosts P4G summit side event, ‘Future Generation and Green Smart Schools’
On May 24, the Embassy of Denmark co-hosted a side event to the 2021 P4G Seoul Summit titled, ‘Future Generation and Green Smart Schools’ held at Dongdaemun Design Plaza, Seoul.
The event was jointly hosted by the embassy, the National Council on Climate and Air Quality (NCCA), the Province of Chungcheongnam-Do, the Embassy of the Republic of Columbia in Korea, and the Global Green Growth Institute.
The event focused on the importance of the youth and their will to action in addressing climate change. Also key to the event was the vision to convert schools in Korea to be smart energy schools akin to energy living labs, where students can learn from energy renovation and work with energy data as an integrated part of their lessons.
Attending the event were Governor Yang Seung-jo of the Chungcheongnam-do Province; Ban Ki-moon, Chairperson of Global Green Growth Institute; Yannick Glemare, Executive Director of the Green Climate Fund (GCF); Frank Rijsberman, the Director-General of the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI); Columbian Ambassador Juan Carlos Caiza Rosero; Executive Director Peter Normann Vangsbo of the Danish Embassy's Innovation Centre; and many others.
A presentation was given by Governor Yang providing an overview of the green smart education for future generation based on the global inter-municipal cooperation. The governor mentioned the Danish-Korean collaboration carbon neutral Green Smart School living lab model while introducing his goal to establish low carbon, zero-energy school buildings that utilize environmentally friendly technology such as renewable energy and water circulation.
In addition, a short talk show was hosted by Executive Director Vangsbo. Participants included Director-General Rasmus Vanggaard Knudsen of Properties & Procurement at Copenhagen Municipality; Director-General Lee Tong-Q of the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Professor Yun Sun-Jin of the Graduate School of Environmental Studies at Seoul National University; and key participants.
The event also saw student participation from Denmark, Korea, and Columbia. Students sent messages to the future generations about environmental protection to ensure blue skies while expressing their commitment to do the same. Their messages were followed by a message from the K-Pop group Red Velvet encouraging future generations to commit to environmental practices as well.
The event ended with all participants pledging to promote civic education on carbon neutrality and actively responding to the climate crisis. In total, 17 metropolitan governments nationwide and 226 local governments jointly declared their promise to strive for the “2050 Carbon Neutral” goals.