[Digital Today reporter Jin-ho Lee] The government attended the 64th session of the subsidiary bodies to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (SB64) and discussed ways to respond to the climate crisis, including national greenhouse gas reduction targets (NDC).

On June 19, the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment said the 11-day meeting, held in Bonn, Germany from June 8 local time, was joined by Kyeon Jong-ho (견종호), climate change ambassador at the foreign ministry and South Korea's chief representative, as well as related ministries and agencies including the climate ministry, the industry ministry, the finance and economy ministry, the Ministry of Science and ICT, the oceans ministry and the agriculture ministry.

The meeting, held as an energy crisis originating in the Middle East continues, mainly discussed clean energy transition and electrification. Turkey, the chair of the 31st U.N. climate conference (COP31), announced major areas of its 10-point Action Agenda, including a target of raising the share of electricity in global final energy consumption to 35 percent by 2035 and zero waste.

Participating countries laid the groundwork for full-scale discussions on key agenda items and deliverables for COP31, set to be held in Antalya, Turkey in November.

The South Korean government delegation reaffirmed the importance of countries establishing NDCs and submitting biennial transparency reports (BTR) to review implementation under the Paris Agreement. It presented best practices for reflecting the results of the first Global Stocktake (GST) in NDCs and held a side event to build transparency capacity in developing countries.

It also stressed at the trade-climate change dialogue, held for the first time this year, that challenges and opportunities should be discussed in a balanced way, including compliance costs of climate-related trade measures and ensuring interoperability.

In addition, many participating countries expressed thanks for South Korea's contribution to raising awareness of climate change by hosting U.N. Climate Change Week in Yeosu in April.