UN chief urges S. Korea, Japan to shut down coal plants by 2030

The UN secretary-general also said that the US should commit to a more ambitious target for reducing carbon emissions

UN Secretary-General António Guterres speaks during the International Security Conference in Munich, Germany on Feb. 16, 2018. (Yonhap News)

In an interview with Reuters, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that South Korea and Japan need to wind down subsidies for fossil fuels and shut down coal plants by 2030.

Reuters reported Monday that Guterres called “for an end to fossil fuel subsidies and a phaseout of coal-fueled power generation in wealthy countries like Japan and South Korea by 2030, and globally by 2040.”

“Guterres said policies tied to the fossil fuel-based economy are still standing in the way of the transition to clean energy. He urged governments to tax CO2 emissions rather than income,” Reuters reported.

Guterres said that the Biden administration in the US also needed to draw up a more ambitious plan for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

“My expectation is that the United States will be able to present a reduction of emissions for 2030, in relation to 2010 levels, above 50 percent,” Guterres told Reuters.

“If [that] happens, I have no doubt that it will have very important consequences in relation to Japan, in relation to China, in relation to Russia — in relation to other areas of the world that have not yet entirely defined these levels.”

If the US raises its emissions targets for 2030, in other words, it could motivate other major emitters of greenhouse gases to take similar measures.

By Kim Min-je, staff reporter

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