Ambassador for Climate Change Kim Hyo-eun of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs shared the government's policies and goals to achieve Korea's goal of reducing greenhouse gases by 40% by 2030 compared to 2018 levels by reducing 37 million tons in the transportation sector.
Kim Hyo-eun, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Ambassador for Climate Change, gave a keynote speech on the topic of 'Decade of Action toward Carbon Neutrality: The Role of Green Mobility' at the Korea ITS Society Spring Conference held on the 20th.
Ambassador Kim said, “According to the IPCC report, we must limit the increase in the global average temperature to 1.5℃ compared to pre-industrial levels by 2100 to avoid catastrophic impacts on humanity and nature.” He added, “The period up to 2030 is a very important, truly action-oriented one in responding to climate change.”
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The IPCC report emphasizes that this must be achieved by 2030, with the message that “greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced by 43% by 2030 compared to 2019.”
In order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reducing greenhouse gases in the transportation sector is essential, and in particular, electrification of automobiles, which account for 95% of transportation sector emissions, can play a major role.
Based on the analysis that greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced by 45% by 2030 compared to 2010, each country presented its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), which is a greenhouse gas reduction standard target, and Korea, which ranks 9th in greenhouse gas emissions, set a goal of reducing emissions by 40% by 2030 compared to 2018.
Accordingly, our country must reduce its annual greenhouse gas emissions from 727 million tons to 436 million tons, and in particular, the transportation sector must be reduced by approximately 37.8%, from 98 million tons to 61 million tons.
In line with the Paris Agreement's principle of progress, which states that downward adjustments are not possible when resetting targets, it is very important to achieve the initial target and lay the foundation for it.
To this end, the Korean government announced the 'Basic Plan for Carbon Neutrality and Green Growth' on the 10th, and presented goals related to the transportation sector: to distribute 4.5 million electric and hydrogen vehicles, install more than 1.23 million electric vehicle charging stations, and install more than 660 hydrogen charging stations by 2030.
It also includes plans to diversify public transportation incentives, improve accessibility to personal transportation, and strengthen demand management for internal combustion engines, as well as expand eco-friendly rail transportation and eco-friendly aviation fuel. Various policies are being developed to reduce the carbon footprint of transportation, including the advancement of low-carbon ship technology.
Since it is not easy to reduce greenhouse gases with our country's economic structure alone, we are supporting our companies to reduce greenhouse gases by concluding bilateral climate change cooperation agreements with countries with high greenhouse gas reduction potential in accordance with Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.
Kim Hyo-eun, Ambassador for Climate Change, said, “I believe there is a lot of room for cooperation in the mobility sector, as developing countries, including Southeast Asia, are showing a growing interest in eco-friendly public transportation systems such as zero-emission buses,” and added, “I would like to ask you to discuss ways in which our country’s policies and technologies related to green mobility can expand overseas.”
Meanwhile, the core of the 2015 Paris Agreement, the first international agreement requiring both developed and developing countries to reduce greenhouse gases, is to limit the increase in the global average temperature to 1.5℃ compared to pre-industrial levels by 2100 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, with zero emissions and absorption.
If the average temperature rises by 1.5℃, serious problems will occur across the environment, such as an average increase of 1.9℃ in heat waves that occur once every 10 years and a 4.1-fold increase in frequency. The urgency is being emphasized because the current temperature rise is 1.1℃.
China has declared carbon neutrality by 2060, and India by 2070, and it is analyzed that 90% of global greenhouse gas emissions are within the sphere of influence of the promise to achieve carbon neutrality.
Major countries are reducing greenhouse gases through various initiatives, especially in the energy and transport sectors. The most representative examples of efforts are the US IRA and the Inflation Reduction Act.
Although it is considered a trade barrier to electric vehicles in our country, the main content of this law is that the U.S. will invest a total of $370 billion in responding to the climate crisis, including about $130 billion in energy transitions such as wind, solar, and energy storage over the next 10 years, and $20 billion in building new eco-friendly car factories.
Kim Hyo-eun, climate change ambassador, emphasized that “reducing greenhouse gases and achieving carbon neutrality are not a matter of choice, but rather a matter of how and how quickly to achieve them.”