Busan’s Two Outstanding Policies Win 2025 Green World Awards
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Busan’s Two Outstanding Policies Win 2025 Green World Awards
□ The ‘Our Neighborhood ESG Center’ and the ‘EULSUKDO Ecological Restoration Project’ have been named laureates at the Green World Awards 2025.
○ Inaugurated in 2014, the Green World Awards are organized by the Green Organisation, an environmental non-profit organization founded in the United Kingdom in 1994, with the goal of discovering and enhancing exemplary environmental frameworks worldwide.
○ The presentation ceremony is held annually in the previous year’s winning country. This year, it is slated for May 12 in Auckland, New Zealand.
○ The awards recognize devotions in carbon emission cuts, climate change, wildlife preservation, and energy management. Busan’s policies fall under the CARBON REDUCTION: FUEL, POWER & ENERGY category, with detailed prize announcements to be made during the ceremony.
○ It is the first time that Busan has been selected. Previous Korean winners were the Korea Airports Corporation, Seocho-gu, and Suwon Special City.
<Overview>
ㅇ Name: Green World Awards ※Since 2014
ㅇ Organizer: Green Organisation (Environmental non-profit) ※Established in 1994
ㅇ Purpose: To identify, acknowledge, and share environmental best practices
ㅇ Theme: Environmental improvement, carbon reduction, and sustainable innovation
□ Commended for its integrated approach to sustainable environmental protection and senior employment, the Our Neighborhood ESG Center engages an aging workforce in the community to collect, dismantle, and recycle waste.
○ Senior participants collect, wash, sort, and shred waste plastics, and senior docents provide eco-education and hands-on experiences for children. Upcycled goods—like safety handles and LED lights—are installed in the homes of elderly individuals living alone and vulnerable groups. A portion of the sales revenue from upcycling is allocated to a senior employment fund.
○ Achievements so far include: 75.6 tons of waste plastics collected (95.3 tons of carbon reduction); 1,680 senior jobs generated; 6,150 children educated and 1,010 children participated in environmental experiences; 1,375 institutional visits from the United Nations, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Incheon, Jeju, and others; and 600 million won in upcycled product sales (30 million won contributed to the senior employment fund).
○ The initiative began with one location in 2022, followed by another in 2023. In 2024, it expanded to three additional locations (Haeundae-gu, Yeongdo-gu, and Jung-gu) and will add five more in 2025 and six more in 2026, ultimately reaching 16 (one per gu or gun). Efforts are also underway to secure private investment to establish at least one location in every gu or gun.
○ Furthermore, we will disseminate the Our Neighborhood ESG Center initiative through Official Development Assistance in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme. In November 2024, Mayor Park Heong-joon met with the UNEP Secretary-General to discuss global implementation strategies.
□ The EULSUKDO Ecological Restoration Project has been highly praised not only for reviving migratory bird habitats but also for maintaining a sustainable ecosystem and strengthening protections for endangered and diverse species, thus fostering a greener future where nature and humans coexist in harmony.
○ Eulsukdo Island was once farmland for Korean War refugees. It was later used as a sewage treatment and ocean disposal site between 1972 and 2006 and a landfill for the Busan area between 1993 and 1997, resulting in severe environmental degradation.
○ However, in the 1990s, a shift in awareness towards environmental conservation and restoration prompted the EULSUKDO Ecological Restoration Project from 1999 to 2023, which focused on creating migratory bird habitats and restoring wetlands. The opening of the Nakdong Estuary Eco-Center in 2007 further reinforced these ongoing endeavors.
○ Since then the city has enriched the area by providing nature immersion programs, established a children’s forests, and emphasized the role of wetlands as carbon sinks, all the while raising ecological awareness.
□ Busan’s award-winning policies will be featured in ‘The Green Book’ by the Green Organisation to be shared with governments, public entities, and businesses worldwide that are striving towards sustainability.
□ Mayor Park commented, “I am privileged that our policies are gaining praise from across the globe. The policies designed to benefit our citizens meet world-class standards as well, and we will continue to introduce and develop them with the global society.”
