Since President Lee Myung-bak introduced the "Green Growth" policy in 2008, Korea has actively advocated it in every aspect of the society as a new engine of growth. The Presidential Committee on Green Growth was created as a control tower of the policy developments and green industries were identified, and along the same line of efforts, the Basic Law on Green Growth was enacted.  Korea, among the developing countries under the United Nations Framework on Climate Change (UNFCCC), was the first to volunteer to reduce emissions by 30 percent of anticipated BAU by 2020.  It also initiated the East Asia Climate Partnership through which 200 million USD was pledged to assist developing countries in the region to cope with climate change.  The Lee administration has revealed its ambitious plans to launch Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) next year, which is presumed to play a catalyst role in inducing a low carbon economy.  Furthermore, it is expected that Korea, as Chair of the G20 in 2010, will aggressively promote green finance and green technology.

Suh Yong Chung is Associate Professor in the Division of International Studies at Korea University and is an international expert on sustainable development law and policy. His research covers various emerging issues in the environment and sustainable development such as climate change, marine environment, and biodiversity both at global and regional level. His most recent works focus on internationalization of Green Growth policy, post-2010 climate change regime formation, and regional environmental institution building in Northeast Asia.  He is a member of the Compliance Committee of the UN Basel Convention, and has participated in various activities of international organizations including the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), UNDP/GEF Yellow Sea Large Marine Ecosystem Project, UNEP’s Northwest Pacific Action Plan (NOWPAP), and United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (UNESCAP). He has also advised on international law and policy issues in Korea for the Presidential Committee on Green Growth, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Ministry of Knowledge Economy, Ministry of Environment and the Organizing Committee of the 2012 Yeosu EXPO.
 
Suh Yong Chung holds degrees in law and international relations from Seoul National University, the London School of Economics and Stanford Law School. He was a researcher at Shorenstein APARC and has continuously been involved in its activities as the Secretary General of the Stanford APARC Forum in Korea.

An integrated approach based on a case study of a new neighborhood in the provincial capital of Jinan in Shandong, China

As part of SPRIE's current research on entrepreneurship and innovation in the green/cleantech space, we are pleased to present this seminar in cooperation with the Precourt Institute for Energy.

About the talk

This presentation will discuss an effort to integrate building energy and emission models with traffic simulation tools, in order to develop integrated urban energy and emission models. The assessment of the environmental impacts of transportation systems does not commonly include an analysis of the effects on building energy use. Similarly, neighborhood level building energy simulations often overlook the impacts of the density of the built environment and the configuration of the street network. Based on a case study of a masterplan for a new neighborhood in Jinan, Shandong Province, China, the modeling approach presented here aims to capture the way the built environment and transportation networks influence each other in terms of energy use and carbon emissions. The goal is to develop a more accurate method to evaluate and compare the environmental performance of various transportation and land use projects.

About the speaker

Nicolae Duduta is a dual Master’s candidate in Transportation Planning and Architecture at UC Berkeley’s College of Environmental Design. He has an undergraduate degree in Architecture and Sustainable Development from the National School of Architecture in Lyon, France.

For the past three years, he has worked as a research assistant  to Prof. Elizabeth Deakin at the Berkeley Center for Global Metropolitan Studies. Recent projects include developing planning guidelines for future High-Speed Rail stations in the Central Valley of California, and advising local governments in China to assess the environmental impacts of new urban developments.

His interests include sustainable transportation and urban design, and his recent work has focused on developing tools to evaluate the environmental performance of neighborhoods, by analyzing the performance of buildings, transportation systems, water and waste treatment and infrastructure.