S Korea enacts 2050 carbon neutrality framework

South Korea's national assembly has enacted a 2050 carbon neutrality framework and set a more ambitious nationally determined contributions (NDCs) target, the environment ministry said today.

The ministry said South Korea is the 14th country to legislate for carbon neutrality, which will serve as the legal basis for adopting measures to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

The legislation also means South Korea's NDCs target for 2022-30 will be revised up to reduce economy-wide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by at least 35pc by 2030 from 2018 levels. Ministry data show economy-wide emissions increased by 2.5pc to 727.6mn t of CO2 equivalent (CO2e) in 2018, which would imply maximum annual emissions of 472.9mn t of CO2e by 2030, according to Argus calculations based on the new NDCs target.

The country's previous NDC target was to reduce GHG emissions by at least 24.4pc compared with 2017 in 2021-30, implying emissions of 538.9mn t of CO2e, based on the reference indicator submitted to the UN last year.

The ministry also said South Korea's presidential committee on carbon neutrality will be relaunched to accommodate the new legal framework, and that this could accelerate completion of carbon neutrality road maps from their current expected publication at the end of October.

The presidential committee last month published three scenarios for reaching net zero emissions by 2050. The first assumes continued coal burn for power, with seven coal-fired units still operational in 2050.

In the other two scenarios, coal is completely phased out, with LNG maintaining its role as a flexible power source in the second scenario. The third scenario assumes both coal and LNG are replaced by green hydrogen.

The environment ministry said the new act will be promulgated in September and enforced six months after that.

President Moon Jae-in's administration announced plans to spend a record 604.4 trillion won ($522.1bn) next year, according to the 38th state council briefing report. The budget will finance Covid-19 economic relief and support the transition to a low-carbon economy, Moon said today.

By Evelyn Lee