[On the Scene] Ways Toward a Green Future for All: A Just Transformation As Viewed from the Labor Movement / Lee Seungchul
The Quarterly Changbi 194, Winter 2021
Abstract
Labor activist Lee Seungchul depicts concrete pictures of the difference between a green future that the government and corporations pursue and one that labor envisions within today’s environment, in which the entire society shares concerns for the growing necessity of responding to the climate crisis, such as decarbonization policies. Above all, Lee warns us of the danger in approaches dependent on the market, such as expanding the role of private powerplants and increasing direct energy purchase by private enterprises, as they could cause excessive competition, imbalance in the national energy supply and demand, and rising consumer energy costs. Instead, he convincingly argues that a “just transformation” should be a public one that is able to protect citizens’ basic rights of energy.