EU Green Day Festival in Seoul celebrates #EUGreenDiplomacyWeek2025

On Sunday, 9 November 2025, the EU Green Day Festival 2025 was held at Namsan Hanok Village in Seoul, bringing together hundreds of participants for a day dedicated to civic engagement, environmental education, and climate action.

Jointly organised by the Delegation of the European Union (EU) and the embassies of EU Member States in Seoul, the festival was part of the #EUGreenDiplomacyWeek2025 and focused on climate change and environment.

Opening the event, Ugo Astuto, Ambassador of the European Union to the Republic of Korea, stressed that the Paris Agreement was a milestone to ensure that the world comes together to act collectively to fight against climate change. He added that everyone has a role to play in addressing the global environmental challenges, by individual actions of sustainable way of life.

RoK’s Climate Change Ambassador from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Director-General for International Cooperation at the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment, also delivered remarks and reaffirmed the importance of the EU–Korea partnership in advancing the global climate agenda

The opening ceremony continued with speeches from EU Member State embassies, including Ambassador of the Netherlands, who spoke on water security, and Deputy Head of Mission of the German Embassy, who discussed climate and renewable energy.

Highlights of the day included a music performance by the Plastic Quartet, which uses string instruments made of recycled plastics, and a climate roundtable marking the 10 years of the Paris Agreement. The roundtable gathered speakers from the Embassy of Estonia, the Korea Environment Institute (KEI), and non-governmental organisations, Plan 1.5, and BigWave, a youth climate advocacy group.

Throughout the day, visitors explored interactive booths and hands-on workshops led by EU Member State embassies and local partner organisations. These included sustainable embroidery craftshop, fair-trade cotton eco-bag customisation, biodiversity art workshop, and Climate Fresk sessions to raise awareness on climate change.

Many outdoor enthusiasts participated in the “Together We Plog” activity that combines jogging with litter collection to promote community-led environmental protection.

The EU Green Day Festival 2025 was organised by the EU–funded Green Partnership programme, as part of the EU’s and its member countries’ efforts to promote cooperation and awareness on environmental sustainability in Korea.