Moving toward ‘Made-in-carbon-free Korea’

‘Made-in-Kore’ should evolve into ‘Made-in-Carbon-free Korea.’

Lee Hoe-sungThe author is a former chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The possibility of Donald Trump’s re-election in the November U.S. presidential race has created uncertainty about how global climate action will be affected. What is certain now is that global temperatures will continue to rise. The warming limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) will collapse within a decade and current efforts to reduce emissions will only show results after 20 years.

The 2.41 trillion tons of carbon dioxide emitted by humans during the 170 years since the Industrial Revolution have contributed to the temperature rise by 1.1 degrees Celsius. A 20 percent increase from now will result in 1.5 degrees of warming. At the current rate, a 20 percent increase in global emissions is only a decade away.

Next year is special in the history of greenhouse gas emissions. Last year, the 28th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change mandated that greenhouse gas emissions should peak in 2025 and begin to decline. This is the first gateway to defend the 1.5-degree limit. And yet, emissions continue, and there seems to be no way to change the situation by 2025.

At this point, uncertainty grows about climate policy in the world’s second-largest emitter. The United States enacted the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, offering tax incentives and other industrial support for all clean technologies that contribute to greenhouse gas reductions. Renewable energy, nuclear power, carbon capture and storage technology, clean hydrogen technology, energy efficiency improvement technology and electric vehicles (EVs) are eligible for the subsidy.

But Trump vowed to repeal subsidies for EVs on his first day in office if he is re-elected president. He called EV subsidies a new “green scam” and a waste of tax money. He claimed that the green scam is causing energy prices to rise and inflation to continue, defining the green new deal as a “socialist policy.”

He then pledged to lower energy costs and ensure a stable supply with American-made energy such as oil, gas and nuclear power. In a speech, he mentioned “energy” nine times. “Electricity” was mentioned five times. Trump said that the electricity demand in America will double due to the spread of artificial intelligence and that the country is wasting power to charge EVs. He will certainly stop subsidizing EVs.

His nomination acceptance speech and the policies of the Republican Party are full of rejections and mockery of the Biden administration’s climate and energy policies. Trump wants to revitalize the traditional car industry and oil industry for energy independence to make the United States a manufacturing and energy powerhouse.

The Republican Party and Trump are negative about the mandatory environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure. The party sees the responsibility as an intervention by the financial supervisory authorities to discourage investments in oil and gas industries and has introduced a bill to set up a separate agency within the Treasury Department to oversee the financial supervisory authorities. The bill was sponsored by Trump’s running mate.

Oil behemoth ExxonMobil sued the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), arguing that the SEC’s push for the mandatory disclosure went overboard. If Trump wins another term, the planned disclosure will most likely be repealed.

During Trump’s first term, the United States withdrew from the Paris Agreement and the term “climate change” disappeared from U.S. government documents. But during his four years in office, U.S. emissions declined. Thanks to the brisk development and supply of natural gas, power plants could use natural gas cheaper than coal and this reduced gas emissions across the country. The development shows that where there is profit, there is action.

Korea is a model for the manufacturing and energy powerhouse that Trump seeks to create in his second term. “Made-in-Korea” has become a symbol of high quality today. Without oil resources, Korea has become a major exporter of various petroleum products. It has built an advanced energy infrastructure that includes nuclear, oil, gas and renewable energy to support its economy.

Economic growth should be carbon-free in the future. When industrial goods such as steel, cement, chemicals and semiconductors — and consumer goods like home appliances, mobile phones and automobiles — become carbon-free before any other country, the demand for Korean products will explode and Korea’s status as an economic powerhouse will remain unshaken. “Made-in-Korea” should evolve into “Made-in-carbon-free-Korea.”

Translation by the Korea JoongAng Daily staff.