Positive tangible results are being made by the Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) and the CF Alliance pursuing a strategy to expand carbon-free power sources in the industrial sector.
Major countries such as the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have supported the CFE, which recognizes nuclear power as a carbon-free power source, and the world has recognized nuclear power and hydrogen as the main means of carbon reduction.
Launched in October last year, the CF Alliance is currently comprised of 20 Korean companies from major industries including Samsung Electronics, SK hynix, POSCO, LG Chem, and Hanwha Solutions, which account for 67 percent of domestic industrial sector carbon emissions.
Chairman Lee Hoe-sung, who leads the CF Alliance after serving as IPCC chairman for eight years, introduced the achievements of the past three months at the meeting.
“Last December’s COP28 agreement, for the first time, included not only renewable energy but also nuclear and hydrogen as key carbon reduction tools,” Lee said. “We have confirmed a major paradigm shift in the international community, which recognizes that achieving carbon neutrality through renewable energy alone is unrealistic and that we must mobilize all available carbon-free energy sources.”
“Renewable energy and nuclear energy are complementary as they are both carbon-free energy sources,” Lee added, responding to some criticism that the CFE initiative is aimed at expanding nuclear power. “We need a comprehensive approach that maximizes the use of various carbon-free energy sources such as renewable energy, nuclear energy, and hydrogen to achieve the larger goal of carbon neutrality at the lowest cost.”
Lee also refuted recent concerns that high-tech industries such as semiconductors and AI can only be exported by not utilizing renewable energy. “Major developed countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom and France are promoting the development of high-tech industries and achieving carbon neutrality in parallel,” Lee explained. “They are also implementing a strategy to harmoniously expand all carbon-free energy sources such as renewable energy, nuclear energy, and hydrogen for large-scale power supply.”
The MOTIE and the CF Alliance are proposing the CFE Initiative to the international community as a new way to more effectively realize carbon neutrality by utilizing various carbon-free energy sources. Unlike RE100, the CFE Initiative recognizes the use of all carbon-free energy sources including nuclear and hydrogen not just renewable energy.
The CFE Initiative will initially go through a global norming phase centered on major countries, and then expand to developing countries in the medium to long term.