On March 12, 2026, a revision of the 'Framework Act on Carbon Neutrality and Green Growth for Coping with Climate Crisis' passed the plenary session of the National Assembly. The act contains the grounds for setting up a climate citizens' assembly. The government must reflect the opinions produced by the climate citizens' assembly in major policies and plans to the greatest extent possible. The door through which ordinary citizens enter the room where climate policy is decided has been carved into the sentences of a law.
Until now, matters such as greenhouse gas reduction targets and power supply plans were closer to the discussion area of experts and ministries. Citizens' voices often reached the process only after decisions were nearly finished, through channels such as public hearings or opinion polls. This revision amounts to an attempt to change that order. The lead sponsor is understood to be Rep. Park Ji-hye of the Democratic Party of Korea.
What the climate citizens' assembly will look like is roughly outlined in the explanation given by the Climate Crisis Response Committee. One method under discussion is to draw phone numbers at random and secure about 2,000 respondents, then match demographic ratios such as region, gender and age to form a citizens' panel of 200. It is a design that excludes particular organizations and stakeholders and has ordinary people drawn at random to take part. It is not a confirmed plan, and it is the concept as of March 12.
The revision carries several other contents as well. A definition of groups vulnerable to the climate crisis was newly written into the law, and protection of vulnerable groups was added to the basic principles of carbon neutrality. The grounds for establishing a National Institute of Climate Science, the formation of a climate policy research council, and the grounds for using the Climate Response Fund as a guarantee account of the Korea Technology Finance Corporation and the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund were also included. Public institutions, including constitutional bodies, must set greenhouse gas reduction targets and prepare plans to convert to green buildings.
On March 13, the day after the law passed, the presidential National Climate Crisis Response Committee announced that it would carry out a public nomination system for civilian members. Nominations are accepted for one week from March 17 to 23 on the public nomination website (hrdb.go.kr/OpenRecommend/). Any citizen of the Republic of Korea may nominate a candidate. The final number of appointees will be decided later.
The Climate Response Committee is a joint public-private body that deliberates on major policies and plans concerning the response to the climate crisis and the implementation of carbon neutrality and checks on their implementation. It is run at a scale of 30-60 people, counting civilian members and government members together, and its chair is Prime Minister Kim Min-seok. The secretary-general is Kim Yong-su, who concurrently holds the post of Second Vice Minister of the Office for Government Policy Coordination. Under Article 15 of the Carbon Neutrality Framework Act, civilian members are appointed from among experts in related fields with the representation of social groups taken into account.
The fields subject to nomination are climate science, greenhouse gas reduction, climate crisis prevention and adaptation, energy and resources, green technology and green industry, just transition, and climate fiscal policy and finance. Taking the revision as an occasion, the Climate Response Committee will push in the first half of this year a reorganization that adjusts the range of the committee's size to fit reality and puts climate fiscal policy and finance into the qualification requirements. At the plenary session on the same day, six environmental laws passed together, including a full revision of the Special Act on Remedy for Damage Caused by Humidifier Disinfectants and a revision of the Chemical Substances Control Act.
The creation of a system does not immediately turn citizens' words into policy. How much force the phrase 'to the greatest extent possible' actually carries can be known only by watching the first meeting open and seeing how its results are handled. There is talk that matters with wide repercussions, such as the national greenhouse gas reduction target after 2035 or the Basic Plan for Electricity Supply and Demand, could come up as early agenda items, but nothing has been confirmed. The fact that a path has opened and the widening of that path are separate things.
So the coming week is not a small one. Someone who has worked in the climate field for a long time, someone who has raised a voice at the sites of energy transition, someone who has watched the labor transition in coal power regions - if a name comes to mind, you can nominate that person by March 23. Participation in the 200-member random citizens' panel begins only when a call comes in, but a civilian member nomination can be started on one's own. The list that decides who will sit in the meeting room is empty right now.
