Two-pronged approach to South Korea's acceleration towards carbon neutrality

On December 14, South Korea’s Ministry of Industry, Trade and Energy stated that, taking the South Korea-Australia summit as an opportunity, South Korea signed two “Key Mineral Supply Chain Cooperation” and “Carbon Neutral Technology Implementation Plan and Clean Hydrogen Energy Economic Cooperation” with Australia on December 13.

2050 Carbon Neutrality Council plays a pivotal role

Since the 1970s, South Korea has embarked on a fast-track economic development and has gradually become an important economy in the world

In order to solve environmental protection problems and at the same time make use of the existing technological advantages in hydrogen energy, battery manufacturing and other fields to complete the economic transformation in the new era, the Korean government has decided to take the initiative to seek changes and take carbon neutrality as an opportunity to actively cultivate digital economy and environmentally friendly strategic emerging industries.

In October 2021, South Korean President Moon Jae-in stated at the second plenary meeting of the 2050 Carbon Neutrality Committee that the South Korean government decided to change the 2030 Nationally Determined Contribution target (an action target for addressing climate change determined by countries around the world according to their own circumstances) from the original one.

Faced with the concerns of enterprises, President Moon Jae-in said that the government is well aware of the concerns of the industry and labor circles, so it will provide strong support in terms of policy and finance, and will not increase the burden on enterprises

Actively guide domestic enterprises

On December 10, the South Korean government invited carbon-neutral advanced companies to hold a strategic report at the Presidential Office, and announced the "Vision and Strategy for the Transformation of Industry and Energy to Carbon Neutrality"

South Korean President Moon Jae-in said at the report that companies are the protagonists of carbon neutrality, and the government's support for the efforts of companies will become a strong backing for companies to achieve carbon neutrality

Accelerate the pace of international cooperation

Due to the small domestic market in South Korea, the application of technology requires a larger international market, and at the same time, key minerals are needed to achieve material self-sufficiency in the carbon neutral era.

In terms of Korea-U.

In terms of South Korea-Australia cooperation, as mentioned at the beginning of the article, the leaders of South Korea and Australia met in mid-December.