By: Elena Metelina
As the world currently experiences a pandemic's effects, the global community recognizes the urgent need for climate actions more than ever. Many of the world's major economies have designed their COVID-19 recovery plans with a strong focus on transitioning to a "decarbonized" economy. To meet this challenge, South Korea needs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 significantly.
South Korea's relatively large carbon dependence results from an economy built around carbon-intensive industries such as automobiles, steel, and petrochemicals. The Moon Jae-in administration has recently focused on increasing South Korea's use of renewable energy. It developed a roadmap for transitioning parts of the economy away from fossil fuels to hydrogen. This includes the goal of having nearly 3 million hydrogen fuel cell vehicles on the road by 2040 and increasing South Korea's capacity to generate and supply hydrogen as a fuel source.[1] An even more ambitious goal is to become carbon neutral by 2050.
So what is South Korea's Green New Deal?
It is a part of the national strategy for the post-COVID era and one of the two components of the Korean New Deal policy. The Green New Deal aims to achieve net-zero emissions and accelerate the transition towards a low-carbon and green economy. To accomplish the Green New Deal goals, the government selected a total of eight tasks divided into three areas: green industry innovation, green infrastructure construction, and low-carbon energy implementation.[2]
The first area is the green transition of infrastructures. Implementation of renewable energy equipment and high-performance insulation to make public buildings green and energy-efficient is planned as one of the largest projects. The government plans to restore the terrestrial, marine, and urban ecosystems of the cities.[3] The entire water supply system will be made smart by using information and communication technologies and artificial intelligence.
The second area is the low-carbon and decentralized energy supply. Specific tasks include the establishment of a smart grid for more efficient energy management. To reduce greenhouse gases and fine dust and to be competitive in the future global car market, the supply of electric and hydrogen vehicles and acceleration of eco-friendly conversion of old diesel vehicles and ships will be made.
The third area is innovation in the green industry. Incentivizing prospective businesses to lead the green industry and establishing low-carbon and green industrial complexes are the main tasks.
Overall the main goal is to tackle the climate change crisis and to shift towards a sustainable society. Nevertheless, the Green New Deal policy faces much criticism:
Some argue that the Korean Green New Deal's primary purpose is not precisely to respond to climate crisis and biodiversity restoration but also to provide enterprises with opportunities amid climate crisis. Greenpeace issued a statement to express "disappointment" over the Green New Deal, which it saw as lacking the fundamental awareness of the climate crisis.[4]
Another vulnerable point of Moon's Green New Deal is its resemblance to the unpopular Green Growth initiative driven by former President Lee Myung-bak. The Four River Restoration, which was the signature project of his Green Growth, is cited as an anti-environmental decision in favor of the developers involved. The South Korean conglomerates will build the new hydrogen infrastructure. Furthermore, they will also gain a captive market for their vehicles and fueling services.
Some observers also pointed out that due to the lack of detailed budget execution, the Green New Deal does not provide sufficient protection for the workers who will be affected by the industrial transition.
Much attention has been paid to the government's stated goal of 30-35 percent renewable energy by 2040, but this will be accompanied by an increasing reliance on Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) as coal-fired plants are replaced. At the point of use, LNG produces far fewer greenhouse gases and air pollution than coal. However, through the production process, large amounts of methane - a greenhouse gas 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide - is released into the air. Moon's attempt to turn South Korea from climate villain to role model may end up buying gains in the domestic air quality at the cost of long-term environmental losses.[5]
Financially, South Korea risks sinking billions into gas plants that future governments will need to prematurely shutter if they hope to meet not only the target of the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius but also the 2050 target for net-zero emissions set by Moon's party. It remains far from clear whether this is environmentally, or even economically, the best investment for the future.
Sources:
1. Green policies should promote renewable energy abroad. https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/opinion/2020/12/738_301382.html
2. Sustainability | Free Full-Text | Green New Deal Policy of .... https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/23/10191/htm
3. Sustainability | Free Full-Text | Green New Deal Policy of .... https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/23/10191/htm
4. [Green and New] How green and new is Moon's deal?. http://news.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20200809000207
5. How Green Is South Korea's Green New Deal? – The Diplomat. https://thediplomat.com/2020/08/how-green-is-south-koreas-green-new-deal/
6. Lee, J.-H.; Woo, J. Green New Deal Policy of South Korea: Policy Innovation for a Sustainability Transition. Sustainability, 2020, 12, 10191.
http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20200809000207
7. https://unece.org/challenge
8.https://www.etrans.or.kr/ebook/05/files/assets/common/downloads/Third%20Energy%20Master%20Plan.pdf
9. https://climateanalytics.org/latest/south-korea-leads-list-of-2016-climate-villains/
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