CLIMATE CHANGE AND SOUTH KOREAN CLIMATE ACTIONS STATUS

Paris Agreement

CLIMATE CHANGE AND SOUTH KOREAN CLIMATE ACTIONS STATUS: FULFILLING THE NATION’S COMMITMENTS TO THE PARIS AGREEMENT

 

05 August 2019, Seoul

This article presents an assessment of South Korea’s climate action commitments to reducing its GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions to help mitigate the rising global temperature.

Most of the data obtained are based on the works done by expert climate actions organization called Climate Action Tracker (CAT).

SOUTH KOREA AND OTHER COUNTRIES

South Korea and other countries that adopted the Paris Agreement have agreed to keep the global warming below 2 degrees Centigrade and pursue to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Centigrade.

As signatories to the Agreement, countries proposed their respective contributions as their ‘fair share’ which are described in their (Intended) Nationally Determine Contributions (INDC) to reduce emissions downward from 2020 to 2030.

Climate Action Tracker assessed the Paris Agreement signatory countries (below). CAT rated the countries based on their rating and assessment methodology.

Critically Insufficient: Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, USA, Ukraine
Highly Insufficient: Argentina, Chile, China, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, UAE
Insufficient: Australia, Brazil, Canada, EU, Kazakhstan, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Switzerland
Compatible: Bhutan, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, India, Philippines
Paris Agreement Compatible: Morocco, Gambia

Use the descriptions and definitions of the rating system below. More detailed explanations are available here.

DESCRIPTIONS AND DEFINITIONS [1]

Critically Insufficient
It means that commitments fall far and outside the ‘fair share’ of the country to hold global warming to below 2 degrees Centigrade besides the Paris Agreement’s 1.5 degrees Centigrade limit. Warming is foreseen to reach 4 degrees Centigrade if all countries have this rating.

Highly Insufficient
Warming is expected to reach between 3 and 4 degrees Centigrade if all countries have this rating for these actions.

Insufficient
Warming is expected to be over 2 degrees and up to 3 degrees Centigrade if countries target this range.

2 degrees Centigrade Compatible
This rating is consistent with the 2009 Copenhagen 2 degrees goal. If all countries target this range, warming could be held below (but not well below) 2 degrees Centigrade. It’s a little high to be consistent with the Paris Agreement, which is 1.5 degrees limit.

1.5 degrees Centigrade
It means that governments/countries have consistent and stronger actions in preventing warming.

Role Model
Countries and governments are more responsible and accountable for their strong actions and ambitious plans.

SOUTH KOREAN CLIMATE ACTIONS PRESENT STATUS

PLEDGES AND TARGETS [2]

According to Climate Action Tracker, South Korea has three items of actions in fighting against climate change.

Paris Agreement. South Korea ratified this historic Agreement for 2030 with ‘unconditional target(s).’ It targeted to achieve 37% below BAU (business as usual) by 2030. The pledge covers economy-wide action, including international market mechanisms. Also, it tries to include LULUCF[3] at a later stage for its climate actions.

Copenhagen Accord. South Korea targets 30% below BAU by 2020 for this accord, but there was not any condition made.

Long-Term Goal. None.

FAIR SHARE

Climate Action Tracker rated South Korea’s 2030 target at “highly insufficient.” It indicates that the government’s climate actions and commitments are NOT compatible with the Paris Agreement that requires 1.5 degrees Centigrade holding of warming.

If all governments behave like South Korea’s approach, global warming would be over 4 degrees Centigrade.[4]

CAT based its rating on South Korea’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) commitments.

CURRENT POLICY PROJECTIONS

South Korea’s gas emission has more than doubled in 1990 and 2014. It is one of the fastest emitters among OECD countries. The energy demands and export activities have aggravated this increasing emission (Kim et al., 2015).

Other Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) economies are seen to have their energy consumption per capita declining while their energy efficiency is improving. On the other hand, South Korea’s energy per capita is believed to continue rising, although its population decreases (APERC, 2016; UN, 2017).

To reduce its emissions, South Korea established the GHG (greenhouses gas) and Energy Target Management System (TMS) in 2012. In 2015, South Korea introduced the Emissions Trading System (ETS) which manages 69% of its GHG emissions covering only 600 companies by then for various sub-sectors (such as steel, cement, refinery).[5]

The 2030 GHG roadmap revised version of South Korea specified sectoral emissions reduction targets and relevant policies that support these actions, including new building standards, green renovation, and promoting renewable energy resources.

FULFILLING THE PARIS AGREEMENT

South Korea, as a signatory to the Paris Agreement, has pledged and committed to fulfilling its (Intended) Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) and National Action Plans (NAPs). This energy-intensive nation has much work to do to fulfill its commitments.

South Korea has recently established a new 15-year plan that targets energy demand and supply explicitly. The Plan reveals its aim to expand renewable energy of generated electricity to 20% by 2030.

The details of the Plan still indicates that South Korea’s power generation mix remains to rely heavily on coal, which is more than one-third of the generated electricity in 2030. [6]

However, still, South Korea’s carbon emissions mitigation commitments remain insufficient with that Plan. That is due to allowing domestic GHG emissions to more than double in 2030 from 1990 levels.

As one of the largest emitters in the OECD, the Korean government needs to revise its green policies, such as phasing out more coal energy sources and by adding more mix of renewables in electricity generation.

 

Sources:
[1] https://climateactiontracker.org/countries/rating-system/ 
[2] https://climateactiontracker.org/countries/south-korea/pledges-and-targets/ 
[3] https://unfccc.int/topics/land-use/workstreams/land-use–land-use-change-and-forestry-lulucf
[4] https://climateactiontracker.org/countries/south-korea/fair-share/ 
[5] https://climateactiontracker.org/countries/south-korea/current-policy-projections/
[6] http://english.motie.go.kr/en/tp/energy/bbs/bbsView.do?bbs_seq_n=605&bbs_cd_n=2&view_type_v=TOP

 

Prepared by: Abraham Sumalinog