Seoul, Republic of Korea (ROK), January 16, 2025 – The Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) as implementing partner with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea, the ASEAN secretariat and representatives of ASEAN Member States, launched the ASEAN-Korea Cooperation for Methane Mitigation (AKCMM) to help address climate change in the ASEAN region. The AKCMM project, a $20 million initiative funded by the ASEAN-Korea Cooperation Fund (AKCF), will run for three years starting from November 2024. This project is the first to be funded and implemented under the umbrella initiative, Partnership for ASEAN-ROK Methane Action (PARMA), announced during the ROK-ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in 2023.
With the vision of contributing to sustainable ASEAN community and regional integration, the project aims to reduce methane emissions through four strategic areas of interventions. These include: 1) Developing enabling policies and institutions, 2) Improving the measurement of methane emissions, 3) Designing, financing, and implementing methane reduction projects, 4) promoting regional dialogue and partnerships.
Mr. Sang-Hyup Kim, Director-General of GGGI, in his opening remarks emphasized advancing climate action and economic growth in the ASEAN region as dual priorities. “This project can serve as a model case for PARMA, and collectively we can establish a solid foundation of best practices for future initiatives,” Mr. Kim said. “GGGI’s endeavors to achieve tangible results, stating where methane reduction and green growth are both achieved,” Mr. Kim added.
The event was attended by key officials of ROK and ASEAN, including Dr. Minyoung Han, Director-General for Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Scientific Affairs Bureau, Ms. Eui Jin Chon, Director for ASEAN Cooperation Division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea, and Mr. Yoonjoo Park, Minister of the Mission of the Republic of Korea to ASEAN. Dr. Vong Sok, Head of Environment Division from the ASEAN Secretariat and representatives from ASEAN Working Group on Climate Change (AWGCC) participated both in-person and virtually.
Following the project launch, a workshop was conducted to introduce the project details and deepen stakeholders’ understanding. In this workshop, Mr. Taeseon Park, Executive Director of Agricultural Infrastructure Projects at the Korea Rural Community Corporation (KRC), which recently signed a framework agreement with GGGI, presented their ongoing initiatives to cope with climate change including methane mitigation in the agricultural sector. “It is important to significantly improve the understanding of methane reduction strategies in agriculture, a major source of methane emissions in ASEAN and we hope that through collaboration we can provide a valuable footprint,” Mr. Park said.
The Project Steering Committee (PSC) meeting was concurrently held, in order to finalize project’s direction and adopt key documents including the relevant Terms of Reference and the annual work plan and budget. Representatives from the Mission of the Republic of Korea to ASEAN, ASEAN-Korea Programme Management Team (AKPMT), ASEAN Secretariat, and AWGCC actively contributed to the discussions.
GGGI reiterated its dedication to ensure the successful implementation of the AKCMM project. This project will make significant achievements to address the challenges of climate change, aligned with ASEAN’s commitment to environmental sustainability and regional integration.
