November 2008

Country Profile South Korea

South Korea forms a peninsular and with a coastline measuring 2,413 km it is directly affected by climate change and the accompanying sea-level rise.

In the past fifty years, the South Korean economy has seen rapid growth and now ranks among the top twenty economies in the world. The downside to this, however, is that economic progress means a significant rise in emissions.

Along with Mexico, South Korea is one of the two OECD countries not listed as Annex I states. But under a new post-2012 climate change agreement, it would in all likelihood be expected to adhere to emission reduction targets.

Since 1999, in response to the rise in emissions, the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Climate Change – led by the Prime Minister – has announced three-year action plans (National Comprehensive Plan for Reducing GHGs) aimed at reducing greenhouse gases, adapting to climate change and promoting international cooperation. Greenhouse gas reductions have not, however, been achieved. In fact, the opposite has occurred: in the period 1990 to 2004, CO2 emissions rose from 310.6 Mt CO2 to 590.6 Mt CO2 (a rise of 104.6 percent). By joining the Asian Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate, South Korea has taken one step further towards intensifying its international cooperation activities.

The Korean DNA, known as the CDM Review Committee, is housed in the offices of the Prime Minister. It comprises representatives from the prime minister’s office, the ministries for the environment and for trade, industry and energy (among others), and government agencies like the Korea Energy Management Corporation (KEMCO) and the Korea Environmental Management Corporation (EMC). To register a CDM project, project proposals must be submitted to the CDM Review Committee. They are then assessed by the competent ministries and agencies before being returned to the CDM Review Committee for the final decision on whether or not to approve a CDM project.

Projects must fulfil five criteria. They must contribute to making Korea’s economy sustainable, meet the additionality requirements, pass an environmental impact assessment, promote technology transfer and be consistent with prevailing national law and policy.

CDM projects submitted for approval so far involve more or less equal numbers of activities on renewables (especially hydropower and wind energy) and N2O. Potential for further projects is seen in renewables (photovoltaics, wind, small-scale hydropower plants and biomass) and energy efficiency.


Further selected information:

International Energy Agency (IEA): Information on South Korea
Information about Korea’s climate policy
Status of the Climate Change Policies in South Korea
Presentation on Korean Climate Change Strategies (PDF)
Presentation on Climate Change and the CDM in Korea (PDF)
Climate Change Policies in Korea (PDF)