기후변화 재앙인가, 기회인가?

Climate Change: Threats or Opportunities?

With mounting evidences of climate change, there have been serious climate change talks to set the post-kyoto greenhouse gas mitigation target in a global scale. Bali Action Plan, adopted in the 13th COP(Conference of the Parties) in 2007 mandates the agreed mitigation midterm target in the 15th COP to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 2009. Many experts on negotiation suspect the conclusion of the negotiation in the 15th COP. However Korean government announced its mid term GHGs mitigation target, set to lower GHGs emission below 30% level from business-as-usual emission in 2020. Climate change and its mitigation policy may render significant risks to the industrial sector facing noticeable increases in energy costs and decrease in demand for the products, domestically and globally. This study surveyed the status of the climate change negotiation as well as the climate change policies in the major economies. Facing imminent threats of the climate change policies, many countries and their business sectors seek strategies and policies to turn the risks into the business opportunities in the changing environment as exemplified in GE and Goldman-Sachs. This study also surveyed the emerging green markets in Korea as well as in the World. The priority of the business sector should be put in the establishment of the GHGs inventory system in the firms and in seeking opportunities to save energy or improve energy efficiency economically. Next the firms need to investigate business opportunities in the green products markets and to develop business strategies to enter the markets. The business sector as an unified body makes itself involve in the climate change policy-making process in the public sector. Industry specific strategies need to be developed through more detailed analysis, which is left as a next study topic. The Korean government shall engage in designing policy tools and in setting the sectoral targets, asking positive participation of the relevant industrial entities. The industrial sector has to take best advantage of this opportunity for government supports and development of new business opportunities.