ID: 28
Presenting Author: Jae Soen Son
Status: pending
This study presents Korea’s approach to institutionalizing carbon spatial mapping as a legal and policy tool for urban carbon neutrality, bridging geospatial innovation with climate governance.
This study explores institutional pathways for integrating spatial carbon data into national and local urban planning systems to advance carbon neutrality in Korea. Following the enforcement of the Framework Act on Carbon Neutrality and Green Growth for Climate Crisis Response, local governments are mandated to establish carbon neutrality plans. However, current policies rely largely on aggregated greenhouse gas inventories, lacking spatial resolution for city-scale decision-making. To address this, the national R&D project Development of Planning Support Technologies Based on Carbon Spatial Mapping (2023–2027) develops a platform to visualize carbon emissions and absorption at fine spatial scales, enabling scenario-based simulations for urban plans. The research further formulates legal and institutional improvement measures to ensure that the Carbon Spatial Map becomes an official evidence base for statutory planning. Proposed reforms include (1) amending the National Land Planning and Utilization Act to institutionalize carbon data in city–county master and management plans, (2) linking carbon-related indicators within the Framework Act on Carbon Neutrality and the Environmental Impact Assessment Act, and (3) enhancing multi-ministerial data governance for urban–environmental policy coordination. By embedding carbon spatial analytics into legal frameworks, this initiative supports evidence-based land use decisions, cross-sectoral integration, and the creation of a governance model that operationalizes carbon-neutral urban management.
Associate Research Fellow at KRIHS, Geospatially Enabled Society Research Center. Earned a PhD in Geography & Urban Regional Analysis from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
Coauthor 1: Yohan Chang