On April 12, COz had a face-to-face interview with Professor Gwangkuk Park from the Department of Administration, CUK’s Carbon Neutrality Promotion Committee’s chairman. Professor Park puts a lot of effort into making CUK a carbon-neutral green campus. Through the interview, we had the chance to hear from him about the progress and future plans for CUK’s carbon neutrality promotion. We thank Professor Park for making the interview comfortable and friendly and for letting us know the importance of carbon neutrality. 

1. Professor Gwangkuk Park from the Department of Administration is the chairman of the CUK’s Carbon Neutrality Promotion Committee, established in May last year. Please introduce yourself for us.

Ans) I have been teaching environmental administration studies to students of the science of public administration major since 2004 and was the director of the Korea Environment Institute, a national institute, from 2014 to 2017. It is my understanding that the president of CUK gave me the mission of taking on the important role of chairman of the Carbon Neutrality Promotion Committee based on this career.

2. What is carbon neutrality, and why should CUK practice carbon neutrality?

Ans) It is the concept of reducing the emission of greenhouse gases from human activities as much as possible and making the remaining gas absorbed by forests or removed through carbon dioxide collection technology to make the actual emission amount zero. Centering around the UN, each country is presenting active plans to reduce carbon dioxide in the fields of development, industry, transportation, agriculture/livestock, construction, and waste. Our government also announced an ambitious plan to reduce CO2 by 40% by 2030 compared to 2018. Especially since the amount of CO2 emitted by universities is massive, it is necessary for us to practice eco-friendly behaviors and put in multilateral efforts to reduce the emission level by more than 40% in response to the government’s policy.

3. Therefore, CUK has established four major promotion strategies for carbon-neutral green campus: advancement of energy management efficiency, optimization of ecological carbon sink management, the establishment of carbon-neutrality education and evaluation system, and the establishment and reinforcement of green transformation governance. Could you give us simple descriptions for each strategy?

Ans) Each strategy is not separated but is in connection with each other interorganically. The first step is to conduct eco-friendly training for achieving carbon neutrality. We need to minimize energy use through this. And we have to replace the necessary energy sources from coal and petroleum with new renewable energy sources, such as photovoltaic energy and wind power. To this end, all members of the university need to participate in the carbon neutrality movement altogether. And it is important to establish a governance system to draw on collective intelligence to achieve the carbon neutrality goals in the early stages.

4. We know that the committee installed a solar photovoltaic facility on the rooftop of the central library as well as the carbon neutrality status board at the central library lobby for the visible sharing of the facility's effect. Was there any reason that the central library was the first place to install the solar photovoltaic facility?

Ans) It has a very symbolic meaning that the central library's rooftop is the first place to have a solar photovoltaic facility. The central library is the place where our promising students, who will lead the future of our country, gather and seek the truth together. There should be a lot of creative and innovative ideas for carbon neutrality coming out from this central library, powered by new renewable energy. Based on all these meanings, I believe we decided to install the first solar photovoltaic facility at the central library.

5. The campus cafe is recommending the use of tumblers, and it has been confirmed that the usage of tumblers increased from last October, although the actual usage rate is not that high. We believe this shows a tendency that students are intentionally trying to use tumblers. Currently, the benefits of using tumblers include discounts on cafe menus and providing two stamps when using a tumbler. What other benefits should be added, do you think, to promote tumbler use on campus?

Ans) To promote tumbler use on campus, I believe various incentives should be pursued. As the saying goes ""Answers to all problems are on site"", it is important to listen to students’ opinions frequently and reflect good opinions on university policy. And we have to make sure that the profits gained from promoting carbon neutrality goes to the welfare of students. That way, the tumbler use will be constantly reinforced and form a virtuous cycle, not just a one-time thing.

6. In the last declaration ceremony, you mentioned that the most important thing is carbon neutrality education, and the Carbon Neutrality Promotion Committee will make all students at our university take environment-related courses until they graduate. We are wondering if you have any specific plans regarding this.

Ans) We are considering that after the pilot operation in the second semester of 2023 with having it as the core education course, we will make it the basic liberal requirement course in the first semester of 2024. The course will be operated as a team-teaching and non-simultaneous online class, and it will be opened at the Catholic Metaversity (CU12).

7. Recently, various corporations have been trying to get rid of paper documents. In fact, the number of financial documents produced at Daejeon City Hall per year is about 10,000 books (500 pages per book). And once they implement the digitalization of financial documents, it is expected they can save a budget of about 300 million won per year, including the expenses for paper and toner and social expenses from unproductive administrative procedures. Like in this case, we can see there is a trend toward introducing an electronic approval system to reduce carbon emissions and save on expenses from using paper. Can’t we apply this method to our campus administration?

The university is also trying to save unnecessary paper use, including refraining from printing the materials on paper and putting them on screen for the meeting, and so on. We will try to replace paper with documents that can be stored electronically to reduce the use of paper and the expenses of storing paper materials.

8. What was the most impressive or rewarding experience you have had working as a member of the Carbon Neutrality Promotion Committee?

Ans) It is important to have the attitude that I can give up immediate convenience and endure a little bit of inconvenience for the success of the carbon neutrality promotion campaign. When I see that almost all of the students in my environmental administration studies class this semester use tumblers and do not use disposable cups, I feel an indescribable joy. Like the saying in The Book of Job goes, ""Your beginnings will seem humble, so prosperous will your future be,"" I truly believe almost all members of our university will participate in this movement sometime soon.

9. COz was established as an institutional club to practice carbon neutrality on campus along with the Catholic University of Korea’s carbon neutrality declaration ceremony. COz is working on their activities by mediating the opinions of the university and students. Could you give us a word about which roles you would like COz to play for our university in the future?

Ans) The role of a catalyst is very important to create an active chemical reaction between elements. I expect COz, our institutional club, to work as a catalyst so that various members of our university can actively participate in the carbon neutrality movement. Please play an indispensable role.

10. We understand that there are students who feel inconvenient and pressured by this, while some students try very hard for carbon neutrality. Could you give a word for such students?

Ans) In Kongzi Jiayu(孔子家語), Liu ben chapter(六本篇), there is a saying that “Good medicines are bitter but good for the disease, and loyal remonstrance is hard to listen but good for the right behavior.” Taking care of the environment may be uncomfortable for now, but in the long term, it is definitely a precious investment for my health and my family’s health. As an example, there could be various reasons why we have the top lung cancer incidence rate in the world, but the dioxin occurring from burning the disposable cups that we use for our convenience is the class one carcinogen. If you think your family may inhale dioxin, I believe you will be able to endure the immediate inconvenience of not using disposable cups.