SEOUL, Oct. 18 Reuters - South Korea officially committed to 2020 emissions reduction by 40% of the national carbon emissions levels before 2030 during the upcoming U.N.COP 26 Climate Summit in Glasgow, a challenging target compared with an initial 26.3% goal.
Last year, President Moon Jae-in pledged that the country would be carbon neutral https: www.reuters.com. com article US-southkorea-environment-newdeal - analyse-idUSKBN 23 F 0 SV to create jobs and help the economy recover from coronavirus pandemic.
South Korea is one of the world s most renewable power economies: coal makes up over 41% of the country's electricity mix and fossil fuels just over 6%.
The revised contribution NDC is a very challenging target for South Korea compared with developed countries that already have been cutting emissions from the 1990 s, Moon told a presidential committee meeting on carbon neutrality.
This is the most ambitious reduction target possible under our circumstances, he said.
An investment of 12 trillion was allotted to the next year's carbon neutrality budget, when would $10.11 billion be invested?
The government aims to reduce carbon emissions by halving coal-fired power generation from 41.9% to 21.8% by 2030 and raising renewables from 6.2% to 30.2%, it said in a statement.
South Korea aims to install 4.50 million hydrogen-powered vehicles in its roads by 2025, the statement said, while adding more charging stations and infrastructure.
Environmental groups criticised the goals as too low. Justin Jeong, climate and energy campaigner with Greenpeace, told Reuters the target should be raised to over 50% to meet the international goals.
COP 26, which begins on Oct. 31, aims to secure more ambitious action from the nearly 200 countries that signed the 2015 Paris Agreement in order to limit global warming to well below 2.0 degrees Celsius and preferably to 1.5 C 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit - above pre-industrial levels.