The world is moving firmly – albeit far more slowly than desired – to save the Earth from global warming and climate change.
In Dubai's COP28 U.N. climate meeting, 117 countries pledged to triple renewable energy use by 2030. Korea, the world’s 13th-largest economy and 13th-largest emitter of carbon dioxide, vowed to do so only at the 11th hour. Seoul notes it is a non-binding and voluntary club.
Some rich countries, including the host UAE and Germany, also revealed their donations to the “loss and damage” fund to help developing nations suffering from climate change. Korea has yet to announce its amount.
Instead, the nation vowed to triple its nuclear energy use by 2050.
All this illustrates that this country is lagging in climate issues compared to its often flaunted global status. It is partly due to Korea’s industrial structure still relying heavily on smokestack sectors, like steel and shipbuilding. A bigger reason, however, is the low level of climate awareness, especially among the nation’s conservative leaders seeking growth by any means.
In his budget address at the National Assembly on Oct. 30, for instance, President Yoon Suk Yeol did not mention words like “climate,” “carbon neutrality,” or “greenhouse gas” even once. He uttered “nuclear energy” three times, but never did he utter the words “renewable energy.” Earlier, his government lowered renewable energy’s share out of Korea's total energy mix from 30.2 percent to 21.6 percent in 2030. Instead, it lifted atomic energy’s share to 8.5 percent.
Foreign media outlets and environmentalists decried Korea as the only country running counter to global trends. The country must reverse its policy direction to keep up with the rest of the world and keep its word by 2030. Will this government do so? We are skeptical. The first thing Yoon did in the energy area was punish unqualified solar energy subsidy recipients. Many small and mid-size solar panel makers have already gone bankrupt, and larger ones reduced the scale of their business or moved overseas.
Korea is at a crossroads between renewable energy and nuclear energy.
The nation tries to lead the CFE (Carbon-Free Energy), which includes nuclear energy, to keep its net-zero commitments. That also explains why Korea joined the 22 countries declaring they will triple atomic energy use by 2050.
Yoon’s energy policy, like his other policies, is based on the so-called “ABM" (anything but Moon Jae-in) mindset. The former leader, alarmed by the nuclear disaster in Japan in 2011, declared a phaseout of atomic energy by 2060. Yoon thinks his predecessor was utterly wrong.
Conservative media joined the attack on Moon, describing him as being close to an eco-fundamentalist. Moon might have been overambitious or not cautious in considering the reality, including Korea’s capacity to shift to renewable energy quickly. Renewable energy’s share remains at 4.7 percent, compared to the global average of 28.1 percent.
However, Moon is fundamentally right.
Renewable energy must be Korea’s ultimate destination, as it will soon be the cheapest and safest form of energy. Yoon’s shift to nuclear energy must be temporary at best. If environmentalists enticed Moon, Yoon seems captivated by nuclearists.
Advocates of nuclear energy say Korea, with its small land area, is unsuitable for solar or wind power generation. They point to the limitations of renewable energy due to intermittency, while stressing the continuity and competitive costs of atomic plants. The nuclear lobbyists are only half right.
Renewable energy costs have fallen far below that of nuclear energy in most advanced countries – except Korea. Even small modular reactors (SMRs) are not competitive unless built on a large scale. Nuclear power generation is also too rigid to fill the void of renewable energy. Korea has no idea how to dispose of fuel waste. It also has the highest concentration of atomic power plants in earthquake-prone terrain.
Although Korea may not move ahead of other countries in climate issues, it should follow in the same direction. The country may not be a model global citizen, but it should also not be a global villain.
Yoon stresses fiscal stringency not to leave a burden on future generations. If so, he must know which will be better. He can leave the nation with lingering risks of a nuclear disaster and filled with fuel wastes below its surface or he can leave it completely clean and safe for future generations.