2024-04-07 06:25:09
Wolseong Nuclear Power Headquarters located in Gyeongju, Gyeongsangbuk-do. The building with the round roof is a nuclear power plant, and from the right are Wolseong Units 1 to 4. /Wolseong Nuclear Power Headquarters
Last year, Korea’s greenhouse gas emissions were found to have decreased compared to the previous year. Even though factory operations have increased following escaping from the coronavirus pandemic, emissions have been reduced for the second year in a row since the year before last. It is interpreted that increasing the proportion of nuclear power plants had a significant effect in replacing fossil fuels.
The 2050 Carbon Neutral Green Growth Committee (Tannok Committee) and the Ministry of Environment announced on the 7th that as a result of estimating last year’s greenhouse gas emissions in four sectors including energy, industry, buildings, and transportation, they had reduced regarding 17.27 million tons compared to the year before. The Ministry of Environment explained that since the energy and industrial sectors account for regarding 70% of domestic emissions, total emissions from the remaining sectors are also expected to decrease.
According to government estimates, greenhouse gas emissions from the energy sector last year were 203.7 million tons, a 4.8% decrease from 2022 (213.9 million tons). Industrial sector emissions were 244.7 million tons, down 0.4% from the previous year (245.8 million tons). The building and transportation sectors were 45.2 million tons and 95 million tons, respectively, down 6.4% and 2.9% from the previous year (48.3 million tons and 97.8 million tons).
Greenhouse gas emissions from the energy and industrial sectors peaked at 529.2 million tons in 2018 and decreased to 464.9 million tons in 2020 as production activities contracted in the followingmath of the coronavirus. In 2021, when it entered the recovery phase, it increased once more to 485.9 million tons. Emissions were expected to increase further in 2022, when the coronavirus pandemic is over, but instead they decreased to 459.7 million tons, and last year they recorded 448.4 million tons, successfully reducing the emissions for two consecutive years. Compared to last year’s estimated greenhouse gas emissions in four sectors compared to 2018, the base year for the current ‘2030 NDC’, it decreased by 13.1%.
The reduction of greenhouse gases can be interpreted as the effect of increasing the proportion of carbon-free energy such as nuclear power and new renewable energy and reducing thermal power generation. In particular, the abolition of the nuclear phase-out policy is evaluated to have had a great effect. Nuclear power generation, which was 158 TWh (terawatt hours) in 2021, increased to 176.1 TWh in 2022 and 180.5 TWh last year. During the same period, the proportion of fossil fuels (coal, LNG) decreased from 366.4 TWh to 356.8 TWh and 342.7 TWh. An official from the Ministry of Environment said, “If nuclear power generation had been frozen in accordance with the nuclear phase-out policy, greenhouse gas emissions would have increased as energy that might not be covered by renewable energy was replaced with thermal power generation,” and “If the proportion of nuclear power had been reduced, emissions would have increased significantly.” “I would have done it,” he said.
The government also announced that it has eliminated unrealistic parts of the reduction plan of the existing 2030 NDC (National Greenhouse Gas Reduction Target) announced during the previous government. The previous government announced that it would reduce 11.8 million tons in the petrochemical sector by replacing ‘naphtha (chemical product raw material)’ with ‘bio-naphtha’. Bio naphtha refers to naphtha made using crops such as soybeans instead of petroleum. However, it was pointed out that production of this amount would require soybean cultivation area 87 times the area of South Korea, making it unlikely to be realized. By removing these ‘imaginary numbers’, the reduction goal has become more realistic.
According to the Paris Agreement, Korea must establish the 2035 NDC by next year. The proportion of carbon-free energy sources such as nuclear power plants and new and renewable energy is expected to increase further. The draft is expected to be released later this year.
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