The study hypothesizes that the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) of the host country have a significant effect on clean development mechanism (CDM) implementation. As CDM incorporates sustainable development as one of the objectives for the green transition, many countries endeavor to adopt and implement CDM as their cleaner production method. Based on the institutional theory, the study aims to investigate the mechanism by which the institutional process of each ESG pillar makes an opportunity for a host country and to see how such country-specific factors influence the implementation of CDM projects. A county-year unbalanced sample drawn from World Bank and multinational CDM project data was analyzed using panel logistic and Poisson regression. Panel regression results show that high-energy intensity and low renewable electricity output as an environmental pillar positively affect CDM implementation. Unemployment and undernourishment as a social pillar positively affect CDM whereas low government effectiveness and the high rule of law positively affect CDM. In the results of zero-inflated Poisson regression, the direction of government effectiveness was upturned. The findings have broadened and deepened the ESG pillar based on the institutional theory and emphasized sustainable development rather than economic outputs.

This comparative empirical study on North Korea and Mongolia was conducted to demonstrate how satellite imagery extracted from Google Earth can be used to estimate the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD) baseline. Forests in North Korea are eight times more densely distributed (8 471 787 hectares, 69.6% of its total land area) than that of Mongolia (12 842 624 hectares, only 8% of its total land area). Forests in North Korea have up to 10 times more carbon storage capacity (e.g. above-ground biomass of Pinus koraiensis under the category of the temperate continental forest, IPCC Guideline: 58.23 ton) than that of Mongolia (e.g. above-ground biomass of coniferous in boreal tundra woodland: 5 ton). Results are expected to be used as objective basic data in the process of introducing REDD+ to North Korea by verifying sharp differences between North Korea and Mongolia. The study could help companies preparing for carbon offset ventures in North Korea since it provides evidence for a more cost-effective carbon credit than in Mongolia despite less initial investment and maintenance cost for forest plantation.

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Google, a U.S. company, has made repeated requests for the cross-border transfer of the Korean map. The requests have been rejected by the South Korean government, citing security concerns for satellite imagery. This article examined the legality of this rejection based on the Security Regulations on National Spatial Information of South Korea. The legal evaluation showed that the Korean government does not have the legal authority to regulate the online provision of satellite imageries by U.S. companies. Strict regulations of satellite imagery services, which are not specified in the current domestic law, create uncertainties for domestic and foreign companies providing online mapping services. This article offered legal insights on how to fundamentally address the deep-rooted stumbling block raised in the 2020 U.S. Trade Barrier Report concerning the cross-border transfer of the Korean map.