한국기업이 ‘지속불가능한 팜유의 유출 시장(leakage market)’에 미치는 영향 조사 결과 보고

 - 한국 기업, “지속불가능한 팜유 유출 시장 (leakage market)”에 공급자이자 구매자로서 막대한 영향력 행사

- 금융기관의 자금 조달, ‘지속불가능한 팜유 시장’ 유지에 일조

- 팜유 공급 기업, 산림파괴 금지정책(NDPE) 채택해 팜유 공급망 내 지속가능성 높이는 데 기여해야

- 팜유 구매 기업, 공급자의 제품이 환경, 사회적 가치를 침해했는지 감시할 수 있는 내부 정책 발표해야

- 한국 정부, 해외자원개발 기업이 공급망 실사를 통해 지속가능한 공급망 관리를 하도록 근거를 마련해야

1. 지속가능성에 대한 리서치 전문기관인 체인리액션리서치(Chain Reaction Research, 이하 CRR)에서는 2021년 1월 21일 한국시간 오후 10시부터 ‘한국과 지속불가능한 팜유의 연결고리’에 대한 웨비나를 개최하였다.

2. 팜유 산업이 급격하게 확장되는 과정에서 산림을 비롯한 환경 파괴와 현지인과 노동자 인권 착취 등으로 문제가 제기되자 팜오일 업계 및 투자자들은 ‘산림파괴 금지 정책(No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation, NDPE:산림파괴・이탄습지 파괴・주민착취금지)’을 채택하여 자발적으로 준수할 것을 약속해왔다. 팜유 산업의 생산 및 유통 과정은 모래시계 모양의 특성을 띠는데, 다수의 재배자(grower)가 생산한 팜 원유(Crude Palm Oil, CPO)를 소수의 정제 업자에게 판매하면 이를 다양한 팜 유래 원료로 정제하여 또 다시 다수의 생산업자들에게 판매를 하고 있기 때문이다. 따라서 정제 업자들이 NDPE 정책을 채택하여 팜 재배자와  정제 팜유 구매자에게 NDPE 정책을 채택하도록 촉구하는 것이 강조되어 왔다. 이에 따라 NDPE 정책이 업계에서 점점 확산이 되어, 2020년 4월 기준으로 전 세계 팜유 업계에서 중요한 역할을 하는 말레이시아와 인도네시아에서 정제 용량의 83%에 달하는 기업들이 NDPE 정책을 채택하였다.

3. CRR의 사라 드로스트 (Sarah Drost) 지속가능성 컨설턴트는 한국 기업이 ‘지속불가능한 팜유 유출 시장(leakage market)’에 어떻게 기여를 하는지 발제 하였다. ‘지속불가능한 팜유의 유출 시장’이란 NDPE 정책을 준수하지 않는 팜 재배자와 정제업자, 제품 생산자들이 거래하는 시장으로 정의가 되는데, 다수의 한국 기업이 이러한 시장에 기여를 하고 있다는 것 나타났다. 인도네시아에서 팜유 플랜테이션을 운영하며 팜 원유를 생산하고 있는 한국 기업은 환경, 사회 및 인권문제를 야기하고 있다고 보고되었으며, 이들이 생산한 팜 원유가 NDPE 정책을 이행하지 않는 인도 정제 업체에 판매되고 있다는 것이 밝혀졌다.

4. 한편 드로스트 컨설턴트는 팜유를 수입하는 한국 기업이 유출 시장에 기여하는 상황에 대해서도 보고 하였다. 한국의 팜유 수입량은 지난 10년간 두 배 이상 증가하였는데, 대부분 식품 가공업과 바이오디젤 생산에 사용되고 있다. 한국에 수입되는 팜유 상품의 절반 이상은 NDPE 정책을 채택한 업체들이지만 33%는 NDPE 정책을 채택하지 않았거나 채택하였더라도 이행하지 못하여 ‘지속불가능한 팜유 유출 재배자 및 정제업체’로 지정이 된 기업이라는 것이 밝혀졌다. 그런데도 대다수의 한국의 팜유 및 팜 유래 원료 구매 기업들은 공개적으로 NDPE 정책을 채택하거나 구매 대상 기업의 NDPE 이행 상황에 관하여 관심을 기울이지 않아 한국 기업들은 지속불가능한 정제 팜유의 구매자로서 ‘유출 시장’에 기여를 하고 있다는 것이다.

5. CRR의 제라드 리지크(Gerard Rijik) 자산 애널리스트는 또한 금융기관이 지속불가능한 방식으로 팜유를 생산하는 한국 기업에 투자함으로써 ‘지속불가능한 팜유의 유출 시장’에 기여하고 있다는 것을 밝혔다. 특히 국민연금, 삼성생명보험, 블랙록(Black Rock), 뱅가드 (Vanguard), 노르웨이 중앙은행 (Norges Bank)가 가장 큰 지분을 가진 것으로 나타났다. 한국의 투자자들은 산림 파괴에 관한 정책이 전무하였으며, 유럽의 금융기관들은 산림파괴 금지 정책을 채택했음에도 불구하고 문제가 되는 한국 기업들에 채권 발행을 하고 있었다.

6. 이날 웨비나에는 공익법센터 어필과 환경운동연합이 함께했다. 공익법센터 어필 정신영 변호사는 팜유 생산과정에서 발생하는 환경, 사회, 인권 문제에 대해 한국 시민사회가 대응해온 현황과 앞으로의 계획에 대해 공유를 하였다. 한국 정부는 해외자원개발을 하는 기업에 대해 정책적으로 금융 지원 등의 방법으로 보조를 하고 있으나, 이 과정에서 지원한 기업들이 자원개발 현지국에서 환경, 사회, 인권 문제에 연루가 되어 왔다. 이에 한국 정부가 자원개발을 무조건 지원하기보다는 현지에서의 환경, 사회, 인권 문제에 대해 모니터링을 하고 지원을 할 필요가 있다는 것과 기업의 공급망 전반에 대해 인권 실사 (human rights due diligence)를 실시하도록 요구하는 법안이 필요하다는 것을 강조하였다.

7. 환경운동연합 김혜린 활동가는 “팜유 공급 기업의 NDPE 정책 채택이 중요한 이유는 기후위기 시대에 더 이상 막대한 탄소를 배출하며 열대우림을 파괴하지 않고, 훼손한 산림에 대한 책임을 지며, 지역사회와의 갈등을 외면하지 않겠다는 기업의 공식적인 약속이기 때문이다. NDPE 정책을 채택한 기업은 정기적으로 이행 경과를 공개해야 하고, 이해관계자들과 지속해서 의사소통해야만 하므로 공급망 내 투명성을 높이는 가장 기본적인 시작점이라고 할 수 있다. 구매기업 역시 공급자의 제품이 환경, 사회적 가치를 침해했는지 감독할 수 있는 정책을 채택해 공급망 내에서 책임 있는 역할을 해야 한다.”라고 밝혔다.

8. 웨비나의 주요 내용이 담긴 CRR의 보고서 ‘한국 기업이 지속불가능한 팜유 유출 시장에 미치는 막대한 영향’은 CRR 홈페이지에서 내려 받아볼 수 있다.

South Korea’s Climate Pledges: Less Than Meets the Eye

At the recent Leaders’ Summit on Climate, hosted by U.S. President Joe Biden, South Korean President Moon Jae-in was praised when he pledged to end public financing for overseas coal projects and release improved emissions targets later this year. But behind Moon’s promises is a government that obstructed legislative efforts to end coal financing, dragged its heels on new emissions targets, and looks set to log and replant 72 percent of the country’s forests in the name of carbon neutrality.

Once again, the Moon administration is making bold climate pledges on the international stage, while undermining these goals at home.

In 2020, South Korea’s national utility, KEPCO, was at the center of an international campaign to end its investments in new coal-fired power plants in Indonesia and Vietnam. In response, lawmakers from Moon’s ruling party proposed legislation to prohibit KEPCO, state banks, and the state trade insurance provider from financing overseas coal plant projects. But on September 14, behind closed doors, the administration scuttled these legislative efforts and greenlit these controversial projects.

Such projects make a mockery of South Korea’s climate commitments, locking in new emissions for the half-century life spans of these plants. This is even more apparent given South Korea’s continued construction of domestic coal plants, which will ensure emissions well beyond 2050, the date the country pledged to be carbon neutral.

The writing on the wall for South Korea’s coal plant export industry had long been clear, and Seoul’s new pledge, while welcome, was somewhat inevitable. KEPCO itself announced last year that the projects in Indonesia and Vietnam would be their last, and in early 2020 the Korean government had to bail out the country’s flagship coal plant exporter, Doosan Heavy Industries, to the eventual sum of 3.6 trillion won ($3.2 billion). Doosan Heavy will build the new plants in Indonesia and Vietnam.

South Korea’s decision to delay the release of new Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) stood in stark contrast to the bold commitments made at the climate summit by the U.S., the U.K., and neighboring Japan. Seoul updated its NDCs in December 2020, but despite an improvement in accounting methods, the target remained unchanged from 2016. Specifically, South Korea committed to a 24.4 percent reduction of emissions from 2017 levels by 2030. But this target needs to rise to 59 percent if South Korea hopes to meet its fair share of climate obligations.

Concerns also persist about how Seoul hopes to achieve its emissions reduction targets. In January, the Korea Forest Service announced plans that would allow 72 percent of the nation’s forests to be logged and replanted as part of its 2050 Carbon-Neutral Forestry Sector plan. The decision is based on a redefinition of “old trees” as those aged over 30 years, as well as disputed research on the lifetime carbon absorption of trees.

Rather than focus on South Korean industrial emissions, the country’s largest source of greenhouse gases, Seoul hopes to reach its NDCs through creative carbon accounting in the forestry sector. By 2030, 11 percent of South Korea’s emission reductions will come from real reductions in the industrial sector, 22 percent by cutting down and replanting trees.

South Korea continues to make bold climate statements on the world stage, but its domestic record fails to back these up. If Seoul is to release new NDCs this year they must not only be significantly higher, but they must tackle the real sources of emissions. Anything less would render Moon Jae-in’s recent pledges at the Biden summit entirely meaningless.

Originally published in The Diplomat.

‘착한 기름은 없다; 한국 바이오연료 정책 현황과 개선과제 보고서’ 발표 기자회견

기후위기 대응을 위해 화석연료를 대체할 재생에너지원에 대한 정책 지원과 투자가 확산되고 있습니다. 대부분 수입산 팜유와 팜 부산물로 만들어지는 바이오디젤과 바이오중유는 국내에서 ‘친환경’ 신재생에너지원으로 인정받으며 생산량이 증가 추세에 있습니다. 팜유는 생산과정에서 대규모 산림파괴, 탄소배출, 생명다양성 훼손, 토착민과 노동자 권리 침해 등 심각한 환경・사회 문제를 유발합니다. 환경운동연합, 사단법인 기후솔루션, 공익법센터 어필은 본 보고서를 통해 바이오연료에 관한 국내외 정책과 자료를 분석하여 바이오연료 공급망에 내재한 문제점을 다각도로 조명하고 그에 대한 해결방안을 제안합니다.

일시: 2021년 8월 18일(수) 오전 11시- 오후 12시

장소: 공익법센터 어필 공간 사이다

주최: 공익법센터 어필, 사단법인 기후솔루션, 환경운동연합

프로그램

사회: 공석기 환경운동연합 국제협력위원회 위원장 / 서울대 아시아 연구소

발제1. 국내 바이오연료 현황 개괄 및 정책 권고

김수진 기후솔루션 선임연구원

발제2. 제주도 바이오중유 발전소 사례 발표 및 제언

김정도 제주환경운동연합 정책국장

질의응답

참여방법

https://youtu.be/p-tp140wuPI

문의 공익법센터 어필 02-3478-0529 / [email protected]

PRESS RELEASE – Korea Federation for Environmental Movements

・ More than 37% of forests destroyed in Korea Forest Service’s Cambodia REDD+ Pilot Project.

・ Korea Forest Service criticized of promoting the project’s success, despite poor management.

・ Immediate need for a forest restoration plan and participation from civil society in both countries.

Recently the Korea Forest Service (KFS) has come under fire for its plan to open up much of Korea’s forests to logging and replanting, in the name of 2050 carbon-neutrality. KFS hoped this would help it reach its goal of 34 million tons of GHG emission reduction by 2050. But what was overlooked in much of this criticism was the fact that 5 million tons of these reductions would be achieved overseas through REDD+ projects.

REDD+, or reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, covers a variety of projects but generally involves developed countries paying developing countries not to cut down forests. Korea began pilot projects in Indonesia in 2013, and later expanding to Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar. Cambodia’s Tumring REDD+ Pilot Project is the first project where the Korea Forest Service secured carbon credits.

At present only the host countries can count reductions in deforestation towards their emission reduction goals, or Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). But Korea is expecting that this will change. Korea’s Cabon Neutrality Committee said as much in its recent 2050 carbon neutrality roadmaps, where it stated that REDD+ would be used to make up shortfalls in the countries future NDCs. In the meantime, Korea can receive carbon credits from these projects, which the KFS says are being sold and the profits used to fund the pilot projects.

[caption id="attachment_218272" align="aligncenter" width="630"] Map 1. Logging in Tumring project area, 2000-2021. The solid white line is the boundary of the REDD+ pilot project, and each red pixel represents the degree of forest loss over 20 years. The brighter the red, the more recently the forest was lost. The remaining forests are becoming fragmented, turning into ecologically vulnerable islands. The yellow pixel represents GLAD Deforestation Alert showing a disturbance in the forest canopy, which indicates that trees in that area may have been lost or removed. ©Global Forest Watch[/caption]

The KFS has proudly stated that last year the Tumring project reduced 650,000 tons of GHG emissions. However, an independent three-month investigation this year conducted by Cambodian and Korean NGOs, has shown the reality on the ground is far different. The investigation which began in May, involved on-site investigations, satellite image analysis, and expert interviews. The fieldwork team was led by Ouch Leng, Goldman Environmental Prize recipient and head of the Cambodia Human Rights Task Force (CHRTF) and supported by activists of Korean Federation for Environmental Movements (KFEM) and the Biodiversity Foundation. The fieldwork team visited 13 out of 14 community forests in the Tumring REDD+ pilot project area, on several occasions.

[caption id="attachment_218273" align="aligncenter" width="425"] Map 2. Composition of satellite data, drone images, and on ground photos showing deforestation inside Tumring REDD+ pilot project © KFEM[/caption]

The investigation revealed that in the past six years since the Tumring REDD+ pilot project was established, more than 37% of the forest in the project area was damaged or lost. According to public satellite data provided by the University of Maryland, the forest area decreased from around 56,084 hectares in 2015 to about 35,544 hectares at the end of last year. This loss of 20,540 hectares is equivalent to an area twice the size of Paris. The fieldwork team contended that the damage in the area is likely greater than what was seen on satellite, estimating as high as 45% loss in overall forest cover. Even more alarming is the current rate of deforestation. In 2020 there was an 8.76% loss of forest in the project area. In the first half of 2021, forest loss has already reached 8.3%.

[caption id="attachment_218274" align="aligncenter" width="469"] Map 3. Tumring REDD+ pilot project area in red, located near the Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary in northern Cambodia. ©Global Forest Watch – University of Maryland; Hansen et al. 2013.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_218275" align="aligncenter" width="605"] Table 1. Tumring REDD+ Pilot Project Zones: Percentage of deforestation by year, 2010-2020. After the REDD+ pilot project was launched in December 2014, forest loss has continued to rise. Land expropriation and logging expanded in 2016, the year Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary was established. © University of Maryland, Global Land Analysis and Discovery (GLAD)-Global Forest Watch 2.0b[/caption]

Most of the deforested areas are turned into large plantation farmland, mainly for rubber, cassava, and cashew nuts. According to interviews with local residents, most of the trees harvested in this process are not for local consumption. It is reported that logging companies from other regions make illegal arrangements with local officials or forest monitoring personnel, make the  local residents handle the logging operations and purchase the timber. According to Ouch Leng, “It’s not a secret that expensive timber from endangered species in Cambodia is actively traded on the black market. REDD+ project isn’t stopping that at all.”

[caption id="attachment_218411" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Photo 1. A fallen REDD+ project sign found in the Choim Smach community forest within the Tumring REDD+ pilot project area. Photo taken by Ouch Leng, 24 June 2021. © KFEM[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_218277" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Photo 2. Illegal logging, on-site processing of rubber trees, and transportation by tractor (locally called "Koyun") in the Ou Daskor community forest north of the Tumring project site. Photo taken by Ouch Leng, July 2, 2021. © KFEM[/caption]

Land grabbing within the REDD+ project forests is yet another issue. According to Mr. Chhem Sopheak, head of the Sochet community forest, located in the southeast of the Tumring REDD+ pilot project, outsiders were recently caught by police for trying to grab land. He also reported cases of people attempting to forge residents or indigenous peoples to gain land titles.

Forest patrol by the local community is one of the core empowering activities of the REDD+ projects, in order to monitor deforestation and logging. However, an allowance of around $50 per 5-person team was barely enough to cover fuel and food costs for patrolling. In fact, the teams interviewed by the investigation team were only receiving an average of $38 per patrol. “It takes 10 people to properly patrol a large forest,” said a representative of the O Dauntey community forest, and a proper patrol may cost “five times the current allowance.” The result is that in many cases, patrol is performed only once or twice a month, utterly insufficient to prevent illegal logging.

[caption id="attachment_218279" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Photo 3. Deforestation in O Dauntey community forest inside Tumring REDD+ pilot project. Photo taken by Ouch Leng, July 2021. (Latitude: 13.130759, Longitude: 105.391645). © KFEM[/caption]

After this investigation report was released, the Korea Forest Service has stated that “there has been no large-scale illegal logging at the Cambodian project site”, without providing any counterevidence. Kim Han-min, a Korean activist who participated in the investigation responded, “If the loss of more than 3,500 hectares of forest every year is NOT a large scale for the Korean Forest Service, we are doomed for a completely destroyed forest within 10 years. Rather than denying hard visual evidence, drone footages and facts found in publicly available satellite data, the KFS must better embrace the reality and grant active participation of the civil society in both countries to right the ship before it’s too late.”

For Kim Hye-lyn, International Solidarity Director for the Korea Federation for Environmental Movements, “This incident once again lowers the reputation of the Korea Forest Service, which has been criticized as the ‘Forest Destruction Agency’.” She continued, “The Korea Forest Service’s plan to become carbon-neutral by securing 5 million tons of REDD+, when it cannot properly manage a pilot project, is deceptive. We need a more thorough investigation of illegal logging at the site and conflict with residents.”

Kim San-ha, managing director of the Biodiversity Foundation, stated, “There are too many loopholes in the current structure of REDD+ that relies on monitoring from private carbon emission certification institutions. Carbon credits can be certified even when forests are destroyed like this case.”

[caption id="attachment_218278" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Photo 4. Deforestation in the Santuk district, in the south of the Tumring REDD+ pilot project. Photo taken by Ouch Leng ,July 1, 2021. (Latitude: 12.676208, Longitude: 105.479763). © KFEM[/caption]

Courtney Work, anthropologist and assistant professor of National Chengchi University, who has been working in Cambodia for seventeen years, also added that “many indigenous people around the world are not protecting the forest just because they are paid (money). Market-driven solutions like REDD+ can maybe bring some outcome in the short run to change the ways that businesses and governments think about valuing the forest. In the long run, however, it changes the traditional community values towards the forest toward monetary compensation rather than protecting livelihoods through forest health. With these new values, we will not be able to expect the next generation to do the same (conservation) actions”.

[caption id="attachment_218283" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Photo 5. Deforestation in Choimsmak community forest, in the south of the Tumring REDD+ pilot project. Photo taken by Ouch Leng , June 24, 2021. (Latitude: 12.799951, Longitude: 105.449644). © KFEM[/caption]