The British Ambassador to the Republic of Korea, His Excellency Mr. Martin Uden, has an association with this country stretching back three decades. His first overseas posting as a diplomat was in 1978, when he served as a second secretary. The next time he was political counselor from 1994 to 1997. During this stint he wrote an introduction to "Caught in Time, Korea," a history of photography in Korea.

In 2003 he published "Times Past in Korea: An Illustrated Collection of Encounters, Customs and Daily Life Recorded by Foreign Visitors." He returned in early 2009 to finish out his diplomatic career as head of the Seoul mission. By all accounts, he speaks decent Korean, and while here, he blogs about his life.

In an address given last week at the Aston Hall inside the British Embassy in downtown Seoul, His Excellency gave an address titled "A Tale of Two Crises: Korea's role in tackling climate change and the global economic downturn." The address was the October edition of the luncheon lecture series hosted by Asia Society's Korea Branch.

It was not only the title that was inspired by Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities": the Ambassador quoted the first line, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." He explained that this was to highlight the situation that the world faces right now ? with climate change underway and possible crises up ahead if radical steps are not taken. But it is also a time of great opportunity to choose a different track.

The Crises

During the presentation, the Ambassador showed a map, depicting what effects a four-degree average increase in global temperatures would have on the world's environment. This map was put together by the British Meteorological Office. It was presented to Cheong Wa Dae in late October by the Ambassador.

The map can be viewed online, and there is a full-screen interactive version available too. On it can be seen things like decrease in crops grown, a rise in the number and severity of tropical storms, a 15 degree Celsius rise in temperatures in Alaska and northern Russia, causing the permafrost to disappear and more.

There will be a better future if early action is taken, Mr. Uden pointed out. That is why efforts must be made on a global scale to try to limit temperature increase to two degrees Celsius around the planet, he said. Though the short-term costs will be great, the long-term benefits will be greater.

Turning to skepticism of global warming, the Ambassador said that by 2020 nobody will dispute the science, but by then it will be too late to do anything meaningful to prevent calamities.

His Excellency posited that the solutions to the two crises were a low carbon recovery, new markets, new jobs, new types of competitiveness, renewable energy sources and energy efficiency. Particularly in the last area, he said there was a lot more that can be done in Korea.

On a table showing 2005 figures for greenhouse emissions per person, measured in tons of carbon dioxide, the Ambassador showed that the world average was 5.8 tons per person. (The goal is to reduce all nations to two tons per person, and a 50 percent drop in carbon emissions worldwide by 2050.)

The average of the 27 EU nations was 10.3, the United States Was 23.5, the United Kingdom was 10.6, and the Republic of Korea emitted 11.4 tons per person. Meanwhile, he explained that while the trend in developing nations has been downward since then, Korea is the fastest growing emitter in the OECD. The Ambassador was quick to point out that this was understandable because of Korea's rapid growth that is still led by manufacturing.

The global vision is for a peak temperature rise of two degrees Celsius by 2020 and deep cuts in carbon emissions by 2050 to ameliorate further climate change, the Ambassador said. However, he added that for now, developing countries will continue to emit more carbon than they are now.

The solutions

At the G20 meeting earlier this year leaders agreed to use fiscal stimulus programs to "build a resilient sustainable and green recovery." This, the Ambassador put forward, was where the answer to the current global economic crisis lies: in adaptation of technology, mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions and financing all of this in a sustainable way.

A recent HSBC report quoted by the Ambassador shows that revenues from the low carbon sector are already larger than those from the global aerospace and defense industries. By 2020, the value of that sector could be two trillion dollars, he said. Therefore, fears that capping and trading will hurt business and reduce competitiveness are unfounded.

Turning his attention to what the world needs from Korea, Ambassador Uden pointed out that Korea is not a Kyoto Protocol annex 1 country, and so therefore has no obligations yet to reduce its emissions. But he gave President Lee Myung-bak enormous credit for realizing that Korea must act and announcing scenarios for targets for 2020 including one of 4 percent less than 2005 emissions levels.

This, he stressed, is enormously significant, because Korea is the first non-annex country to commit to carbon cuts. Therefore, Korea is a model for other up-and-coming countries. If Korea cannot do it, then how can Turkey, Mexico or other countries?

His Excellency said that a goal of 2005 minus 4 percent is a goal that is just acceptable in terms of 2020 and 2050 goals for world emissions targets. However, his years of experience with Koreans have taught him that it is quite likely that this modest goal will be not only achieved but exceeded, surprising the world, as Korea has so often done.

From Seoul to Copenhagen

He wants to see a target set in law at the upcoming conference on climate change at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December this year. If that happens, other nations can follow this target, and it will become a standard that governments can be held accountable to. The Ambassador pointed out that Korea is a major player in these negotiations for a new treaty on climate change, and that the Korean government has been quite creative. It is likely, he stated, that some of their ideas will be used in any final agreements.

At the end of his presentation he brought the audience back to Dickens' work, in which the last line reads, "It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done." This line is spoken by Sydney Carton as he goes to the guillotine, knowing that his sacrifice will save other characters. Ambassador Uden reiterated that the world has never faced such a situation before, and that we will have to make sacrifices as never before, and act as never before, in order to rectify the situation. If we do this, then it will be a far, far better thing than we have ever done.

By Jacco Zwetsloot
Korea.net Staff Editor & Writer

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