KOREA
BEYOND COAL

Incheon calls for a just 2030 coal exit

In May 2021, Climate Strike Incheon and Korea Beyond Coal (KBC) organized a meeting to demand and discuss coal exit and just transition.

Picketing and one-person demonstrations were held at the Incheon Terminal to inform citizens of the Incheon Yeongheung Coal Power Plant. A walking march followed, with activists emphasizing the necessity of coal exit and just transition in Incheon.

At the press conference in front of Incheon City Hall, KBC and Climate Strike Incheon contended that “the government and Incheon city should stop greenwashing and unjustly emitting carbon” and that “Incheon should prepare for just transition with its local residents and workers to make the city coal-free.”

As a member of the PPCA, Incheon City should declare and prepare for coal phase-out 2030. However, the “3rd Incheon City Climate Change Plan" announced by the Incheon Government in April 2021 stil plans for two out of six Yeongheung Power units to be converted to LNG power generation, another two to be shut down in 2034, and the other two in 2044. This is ridiculously inadequate compared to the recommendation of the IPCC 1.5°C Special Report adopted in Songdo, Incheon in 2018, not to mention Incheon City’s membership in the PPCA. Incheon City should take responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions and make plans to shut down coal power generation faster and more justly.