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Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon announces his 2020 New Green Deal plan at Seoul City Hall on July 8. (Yonhap News)

The city of Seoul is working on a plan to require all vehicles operated in Seoul to be powered by electricity or hydrogen by 2050.

The rule is part of the city’s “new green deal,” which was unveiled by mayor Park Won-soon during a press conference at Seoul City Hall on the morning of July 8. The city plans to spend 2.6 trillion won (US$2.17 billion) by 2022 on a policy of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and converting to new and renewable energy.

As part of that policy, Seoul said, it would limit city vehicle registration to electric and hydrogen vehicles and ban vehicles with internal combustion engines from entering downtown Seoul starting in 2035. The city also intends to ask the government to revise laws so that it can expand the ban on fossil fuel-powered vehicles to the entire city in 2050.

The city will also be upgrading 241 aging public facilities used by vulnerable groups – including recreational centers for the elderly, daycare centers, preschools, and public health centers – to make them more energy efficient. To reduce the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by buildings, the city will be setting up an emission credit program for buildings. This program will be rolled out on a trial basis for city-owned buildings and later expanded to the private sector.

Another initiative being pursued by the city is to increase renewable energy generation by adding solar panels to as many public facilities as possible, including water and sewage facilities, the metropolitan railway, and public buildings.

By Suh Hye-mi, staff reporter

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