South Korea

Citation

Park H (2024) South Korea. In: Fiorino DJ, Eisenstadt TA & Ahluwalia MK (eds.) Elgar Encyclopedia of Climate Policy. Edward Elgar Publishing, p. 439–443. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781802209204.ch84

Abstract
South Korea is one of the top ten carbon emission countries. A major cause of high emission rates is the Korean market’s large reliance on domestic energy-intensive industries. The manufacturing sector, with high CO2 emissions accounts for more than 26 percent of the total national GDP, compared with 14 percent in the EU and about 10 percent in the US. Korea therefore faces growing international pressure to implement more ambitious climate policies. Consequently, the former president, Lee Myong-bak, initiated the Green Growth Act (GGA) in 2010 as a reaction to this pressure, and this Act shaped the main characteristic of South Korea’s climate policy such as the Carbon Neutrality Act in 2022, as a recent example. South Korea’s government is pursuing increasing economic opportunities from climate policy outcomes and strengthening national competitiveness in the global market.

Keywords
South Korea; Greenhouse gas emissions; Carbon emissions; Nuclear power