S. Korea to donate $20 mln to set up ADB carbon fund

SEOUL, Nov. 19 (Yonhap) -- South Korea said Thursday it will contribute US$20 million to the Asian Development Bank over the next four years to set up a new fund aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions, part of Seoul's efforts to win emission credits.

The Ministry of Strategy and Finance said it will make annual contributions of $5
million to the ADB's Future Carbon Fund.
"The contribution to the ADB can help developing countries engage in eco-friendly
growth and open new possibilities for local companies to gain access to various
overseas clean development mechanism projects," a ministry official said.
The measure will also enable Seoul to win valuable carbon emission credits that
can later be used to allow the country to release more greenhouse gases than it
pledged to cut.
The donation is to come from the Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF)
operated by Seoul to help developing economies and various global projects.
The Manila-based ADB is striving to set up the $200 million fund, with half of
the total coming from governments while the remainder will come from the private
sector.
The ministry said the other countries that have pledged to contribute money are
Sweden, Finland, Belgium, and Portugal, all of which have promised to contribute
$20 million each.
The country's chief economic policymaking ministry, meanwhile, said the total
size of its EDCF for 2010 has been set at 483.7 billion won (US$419.4 million) or
a gain of 35 percent from this year.
yonngong@yna.co.kr
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