Challenging Moment

According to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, South Korea is to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 37% by 2030.
According to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, South Korea is to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 37% by 2030.

 

The Paris Agreement on Climate Change becomes effective on November 4 this year with the conditions for its ratification now satisfied in at least the 55 countries accounting for 55% of the global greenhouse gas emissions. According to the agreement, each of 195 developing and developed countries across the world has to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. Concluded in Paris, France in November last year, the agreement is to replace the Kyoto Protocol expiring in 2020.

According to the agreement, South Korea is to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 37% compared to the BAU scenario (850.6 million CO2-eq tons) by 2030. 25.7 percentage points of it is scheduled to be handled by means of its own efforts and the rest by means of purchase in the international market mechanism (IMM).

Still, the South Korean government has yet to set up specific plans for the purpose. As of 2013, the local energy industry was the largest greenhouse gas emitter in the country with a ratio of 42.8% and a reduction in the number of thermal power plants in operation in the industry is an urgent issue for the purpose. However, according to its national electric power supply plan assuming an annual increase of 2.1% in energy consumption, the number of atomic power stations has to be increased or more LNG, which is much more expensive than coal in terms of generation cost, has to be used in the case of reduced power supply attributable to a phased shutdown of thermal power plants. This is likely to lead to opposition from the general public in that the public opinion about nuclear power generation is already adverse and LNG-based power generation results in higher electricity prices. A plan for the purchase in the IMM has yet to be established, too.

Besides, developed countries can resort to trade protectionism more than ever in the framework of the agreement. Then, the steel and automobile industries of South Korea can take a direct hit. The former emits a large amount of CO2 because oxygen must be separated by carbon such as coke being added to iron oxide. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the U.S. and European countries may regulate the import of steel amid the ongoing global supply glut. Exhaust emissions standards can be tightened in the automobile industry by the U.S. and Europe as well.

The South Korean government advised not to make a fuss though. “Although the Paris Agreement becomes effective soon, specific action plans will not be available until 2018,” the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy explained, adding, “The government will respond by coming up with a roadmap for the overhaul of the major industries including energy while striving to achieve the reduction target.”

 

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