Korea’s industry may agree with the government to reduce emissions and energy use later this year, C. J. Park, a consultant with the International Emissions Trading Association, said at the Carbon Markets Asia Conference in Singapore on June 22. The emissions-trading market and energy-use targets may start in 2012, he said.
South Korea said in November it will cut emissions by 30 percent by 2020 under a “business as usual” scenario. The target corresponds to a 4 percent reduction from 2005 levels, according to Green Korea United, a non-profit group. Emissions rose to 599.5 million metric tons in 2006 from 594.4 million tons a year earlier, the government said in February last year. That’s about double the output in 1990.
Korea will consider levying a tax on energy use as part of efforts to cut the nation’s carbon emissions, Finance Minister Yoon Jeung Hyun said in February. Japan will hold talks with South Korea to discuss setting up a joint emissions-trading mechanism, Nikkei English News reported in May.
