Press Release

by the Presidential Committee on Green Growth and the Prime Minister’s Office of the Republicof Korea

Korean government launches the national consensus-building process for deciding 2020 midterm GHG mitigation target by announcing three mitigation scenarios.

The Korean government announced on 4 August 2009 that it will launch a national consensus building process, as the next step in deciding Korea’s 2020 midterm greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation target.

This is a follow-up to President Lee Myung-bak’s address at the 2008 G8 Extended Summit where he made the commitment that Korea will actively engage in the global efforts to combat climate change and play a leadership role as an “early mover” by announcing 2020 midterm target in 2009.

The consensus building process will be based on mitigation potential study conducted by key research institutions, which set out three mitigation scenario options for 2020.

< Scenario 1 >  21% reduction from BAU (8% increase from 2005 level)

-     Achieved through implementation of measures with short-term cost but potential long-term benefits.

< Scenario 2 >  27% reduction from BAU (Return to 2005 level)

-     Implementation of additional measures from scenario 1 which have mitigation cost less 50,000 KRW per ton of CO₂.

< Scenario 3 >  30% reduction from BAU (4% reduction from 2005 level)

-   Implementation of aggressive measures with high mitigation cost.

 *  Korea’s 2005 GHG emission = 594 MtCO_2e   
*  BAU = Business as Usual
*  target figure does not include offsets from forest management

Considering that Korea’s GHG emission has more than doubled in the last fifteen years (1990~2005), drastically reducing from current trend and preventing further increase from the current level of emission within 15 years is an ambitious and robust target.

The mitigation potential study was initiated in September of 2008 with 7 key national research institutions participating.  In July this year, it went through a series of expert review by the Review Committee chaired by Dr. Hoesung Lee, who is currently the vice-chair of IPCC (Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change).

Korean government has proposed three mitigation scenarios to emphasize the importance on building wide stakeholder consensus.  It plans to conduct public survey as well as consultations and public hearings with various stakeholders.

The final midterm mitigation target will be announced within this year, by taking into consideration the progress of the national consensus-building process.

More detailed information on Korea’s mitigation scenarios and the national consensus-building process can be found at the website for the Presidential Committee on Green Growth (www.greengrowth.go.kr)