[Editorial] Excessive goal

Government lowers emission reduction goal for industries, but hard to reduce elsewhere

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said that the previous administration had raised the country’s carbon emission reduction goal too high without listening to industries sufficiently.

The Moon Jae-in administration pledged to the international community to reduce the country’s greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent of the 2018 level by 2030.

Han said in a plenary session of the Presidential Commission on Carbon Neutrality and Green Growth on Monday that the goal is becoming a heavy burden on industries and the current government.

Participants in the meeting deliberated the first master plan for carbon neutrality and green growth.

According to the plan, the country will maintain the 40 percent greenhouse gas reduction goal. But it has lowered the reduction goal for industries by 3.1 percentage points from the 14.5 percent set by the Moon administration to 11.4 percent.

The Paris Agreement on Climate Change has a principle of “no backsliding,” in which a country’s successive goal should represent a progression beyond its previous goal. If a country violates this principle, it will lose trust. The first plan of the Yoon Suk Yeol administration backslides in order to prioritize temporary expediency.

Thus, to maintain the overall reduction goal after lowering the target for industries, Korea must reduce emissions elsewhere more than originally planned.

It plans to reduce emissions 4 million metric tons more than the Moon administration planned, through renewable electricity generation using clean energy such as solar and hydrogen and the same amount through a “clean development mechanism.” In this mechanism, a country can earn credits that can be counted toward meeting its targets by implementing an emission-reduction project in developing countries.

The nation reportedly needs about 30 more solar farms similar to its largest one in Haenam, South Jeolla Province, to reduce emissions 4 million tons. Establishing these is practically impossible.

Considering the advanced economies competing for emission-reduction projects in developing countries, it will not be easy to attain the existing target of reducing emissions 33.5 million tons a year through the mechanism. To this, Korea added 4 million tons.

The Moon administration set the goal of reducing emissions by 40 percent of the 2018 level by 2030. This figure is 13.7 percentage points higher than the 26.3 percent set by the Park Geun-hye administration. The Moon administration reported the new target to the United Nations about six months before the end of his presidency.

There were no reasonable grounds for raising the goal. The target was found to have been set to reflect Moon’s personal view that it should be 40 percent considering the international community's trust in Korea. At that time, the carbon neutrality commission, in unveiling solar and wind power proportions expected in 2050 when Korea attains carbon neutrality, said costs were not considered. But it was found later to have hidden that it estimated that energy storage system costs would range from 787 trillion won ($593 billion) to 1,248 trillion won.

Moon presented an impractical goal that would make Korea look good on the international stage, but it left an unbearable burden on the next government, companies and the people. The new government is in a dilemma. Industries are suffering a lot from the excessive target.

Construction is reportedly suspended or delayed in many sites due to a shortage of cement. Scores of bulk cement tanker trailers are said to queue up in front of cement factories from dawn. Eleven of the nation’s 35 cement kilns are currently under repair to cut back on carbon emissions. The shortage of cement is just one of the consequences as a result of the irrationally fixed carbon neutrality target.

Obsessed with a desire to look exemplary internationally, the previous administration ignored opinions that it should fully consider the Korean situation, and took the target too far. Burdens for the attainment of the goal are beginning to be felt.

It is urgent to adjust the implementation plan flexibly toward minimizing damage to the national economy and companies. Also, whether proper procedures were taken to raise the goal must be inspected.

By Korea Herald(khnews@heraldcorp.com)