South Korea's energy plan for sustainable development

Historical and Political Context

Korea’s history dates from 2333 BCE. In its earlier dynasties, Buddhism greatly influenced the nation’s politics and culture. The last regime, the Joseon Dynasty—formed in the fourteenth century—and Confucianism, exerted a massive influence over the whole of the society. From the seventeenth century on, practical and liberal ideologies began to be adopted, leading to agricultural improvements and social reforms.

Korea has suffered many foreign invasions across history. In 1910, Japan colonized the peninsula. Korea was librated from Japanese colonial rule at the end of World War II, when Japan surrendered unconditionally to Allied forces in August 1945. After the war, the new global geopolitics and ideology of the Cold War led to the division of the peninsula into two nations, South Korea and North Korea, with utterly opposed political and economic systems.

In August 1948, the legitimate, democratic South Korean government was formally established. South Korea developed full democracy and a market economy. In June, 1950, the Korean War broke out, as North Korea invaded South Korea. The war lasted until July 1953. Since the 1960s, South Korea’s growth-oriented, export-led economic development has seen remarkable growth. In 2006, South Korea’s economy was the twelfth largest in the world, and the nation became a global economic leader. Meanwhile, South Korea successfully hosted the twenty-fourth Olympic Games in 1988 and cohosted the 2002 FIFA World Cup with Japan. Since the 1990s, Korean popular culture has become popular throughout Asia, in a phenomenon known as the Korean wave. Through these occasions, Korea has demonstrated to the world not only its advanced economy and modern technologies but also its rich cultural heritage.

Impact of South Korean Policies on Climate Change

South Korea’s development strategy since 1960 achieved extraordinary economic growth rates. The unprecedented growth was achieved by massive production and an energy-concentrated industrial structure, focusing on the steel, petrochemical, and cement industries. After thirty years of rapid economic development, Korea transformed itself from an agricultural economy into a highly industrialized economy. This development strategy required a seemingly infinite supply of energy and natural resources and entailed considerable consumption of fossil fuels and emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs). Furthermore, low oil prices for industrial use and very low investment in energy-saving equipment were responsible for inefficient energy consumption that contributed to rapid increases in carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions.

Since the late 1990s, South Korea has changed its traditional energy paradigm of mass production and mass consumption in response to international climate change agreements. This effort has resulted in significant decreases in GHG emissions per capita. The skyrocketing price of oil and increasing dependence on imported energy, moreover, forced the government to adapt sustainable economic growth strategies. In 2008, South Korea launched a green energy development strategy, Green Korea, focused on changing the national energy structure to fight global climate change by cutting GHG emissions and to reduce energy dependency. This strategy includes devising various initiatives to develop new and renewable energy resources, promoting energy conservation, and improving energy efficiency. To accomplish these goals, the government will emphasize investment in solar and wind energies, hydrogen fuel cells, carbon capture and storage, and energy storage technologies. By 2030, fossil fuel and renewable energy were projected to account for 61 percent and 11 percent of energy consumption, down from 82.7 percent and 2.4 percent, respectively, in 2008. By 2024, South Korea’s greenhouse-gas emissions had fallen by about 2 percent, reaching their lowest level in fourteen years—about 80 percent of its energy came from fossil fuels and 10 percent came from renewable energy. During the same year, renewables supplied just over 10 percent of the nation’s electricity, marking continued but slow progress toward energy diversification. In May 2024 the government released a revised energy blueprint targeting 70 percent carbon-free power generation by 2038, accelerating the planned transition away from fossil fuels.

South Korea as a GHG Emitter

As a result of South Korea’s rapid economic growth from the 1960s to the late 1990s, energy consumption and CO₂ emissions also grew rapidly. Energy consumption, however, grew much more rapidly than did economic growth. This was primarily because of the poor energy efficiency of each sector of industry and governmental heavy-industry-oriented development strategies. During the period of economic development, CO₂ emissions increased significantly. The average annual growth rate of CO₂ emissions was 7.4 percent between 1981 and 1997. Over this period, total CO₂ emissions increased 3.3 times. In addition, the growth rate of the transportation sector was greater than that of other sectors because of significant increases in the number of automobiles in the nation. This trend slowed after the late 1990s. CO₂ emissions doubled again between 1990 and 2004. South Korea emitted 643 metric tons of CO₂ emissions in 2021, contributing about 1.77 percent of global CO₂ emissions. By 2023, total GHG emissions were estimated at 624.2 million metric tons of CO₂-equivalent—a 4.4 percent decrease from the previous year.

Summary and Foresight

South Korean GHG emissions have grown significantly along with rapid economic growth. Because Korea’s industrial structure is biased to the resource- and energy-intensive industries, South Korea consumes more energy than do other leading industrial countries to make the same products. This energy-intensity results from South Korea’s heavy and chemical industry drives in the 1970s and 1980s and the poor energy efficiency of those industries. In the twenty-first century, South Korea undertook rapid restructuring of its industrial sector, transitioning from conventional heavy industry to new high-technology industries.

In 2008, South Korea adapted a new energy plan for sustainable development, focusing on clean energy industrial initiatives, introducing highly energy efficient technologies and products, and promoting the use of non-polluting, alternative, renewable energy sources. Particular emphasis was placed on the government’s initiatives to restructure the electricity industry, which contributes one-third of South Korea’s total CO₂ emissions, and to significantly increase the share of renewable energy sources from 2.4 percent in 2008 to 11 percent in 2030. According to this plan, the government sought to maintain the level of CO₂ emissions of 2005 until 2012 and then reduce the emission by an average of 2.2 percent annually.

South Korea also takes responsibility for matching global efforts for global climate change. South Korea was the first developing country to express its intent to reduce GHGs voluntarily in 2018. The country ratified the Paris Agreement in 2016, committing to reducing its GHG emissions by 55 percent by 2030 compared to 1990 data.

South Korea’s 2021 updated policy commitments showed that progress toward climate goals remained modest, and the government’s 2030 goals were still likely out of reach. The country’s December 2021 updated nationally determined contribution (NDC) set a target of a 40 percent reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions by 2030 compared with 2018 levels. Despite a small decline in emissions in 2024, experts characterized South Korea’s overall climate strategy as “highly insufficient” to meet the 1.5 degrees Celsius (34.7 degrees Fahrenheit) Paris Agreement pathway or its own stated targets.

Key Facts

• Population: 51,651,194 (2025 estimate)
• Area: 98,477 square kilometers (61,190.8 square miles)
• Gross domestic product (GDP): $1.71-1.87 trillion (2023 estimates)
• Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in millions tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e): 654 in 2022; 624.2 in 2023
• Paris Agreement status: Ratified 2016

Bibliography

Choi, Yearn Hong. South Korea’s Environmental Policy and Management. Shinkwang, 2008.

"EU Promotes Ambitious post-2030 Greenhouse Gas Reduction Targets and Strong International Cooperation under the EU-Korea Green Partnership." Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Korea, 16 Oct. 2024, www.eeas.europa.eu/delegations/south-korea/eu-promotes-ambitious-post-2030-greenhouse-gas-reduction-targets-and-strong-international_en?s=179. Accessed 23 Oct. 2025.

Korea Environment Institute. “Policies on Promoting Environmental Industries and International Cooperation.” Korea Environmental Policy Bulletin, vol. 5, 2007, pp. 1-11.

"Korea, Rep." World Bank Group, 2024, data.worldbank.org/country/korea-rep. Accessed 23 Oct. 2025.

Lee, Joyce. "South Korea Plans 70% Carbon-Free Power Generation by 2038, Draft Shows." Reuters, 30 May 2024, www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/south-korea-plans-70-carbon-free-power-generation-by-2038-draft-shows-2024-05-31/. Accessed 23 Oct. 2025.

Oberdorfer, Don. The Two Koreas: A Contemporary History. Basic Books, 2002.

"South Korea." Climate Tracker, 17 July 2023, climateactiontracker.org/countries/south-korea/. Accessed 23 Oct. 2025.

"South Korea Population." Worldometer, 2025, www.worldometers.info/world-population/south-korea-population/. Accessed 23 Oct. 2025.

"2023 Greenhouse Gas Emissions at 624.2 Million Tons... 4.4% Decrease Compared to Previous Year, Continuing Trend of Decrease for Two Consecutive Years." Ministry of Climate, Energy, and Envionment, 10 Sept. 2024, www.korea.net/Government/Briefing-Room/Press-Releases/view?articleId=1700240&insttCode=A260112&type. Accessed 23 Oct. 2025.

Yo, H. "Fossil Fuels in South Korea—Statistics and Facts." Statista, 19 Sept. 2024, www.statista.com/topics/10651/fossil-fuels-in-south-korea/. Accessed 23 Dec. 2024.

Yoon, Esook. “South Korean Environmental Foreign Policy.” Asia-Pacific Review, vol. 13, 2006, pp. 74-96.