South Korean political parties and candidates have included climate and environmental issues in their campaign platforms ahead of local elections, but most lack detailed plans to cut emissions, expand renewable energy and protect ecosystems, an environmental group said.
The assessment by Seoul-based Korean Federation for Environmental Movement (KFEM) found that while candidates frequently pledged support for carbon neutrality, renewable energy targets and green growth, many proposals lacked specific timelines, emissions reduction pathways and biodiversity protection measures.
The review examined policy platforms from major political parties and environmental pledges made by leading candidates for provincial and metropolitan government posts ahead of South Korea’s ninth nationwide local elections.
South Koreans will vote on 3 June to elect mayors and governors in 16 cities and provinces, 227 local government heads, nearly 4,000 local council members and 16 education superintendents in the country’s ninth nationwide local elections.
KFEM said most parties now treat climate and energy as key policy issues, reflecting the growing prominence of climate change in public debate. However, it said few had presented concrete plans for meeting emissions reduction goals despite growing pressure to strengthen South Korea’s climate commitments.
The group noted that South Korea must revise its greenhouse gas reduction pathway after the Constitutional Court ruled that parts of the country’s climate framework were inconsistent with constitutional obligations, but said major parties had largely failed to make the issue a central campaign pledge.
The assessment found clear differences among parties on energy policy.
According to KFEM, the conservative People Power Party supports building new nuclear reactors and expanding small modular reactors (SMRs), while the liberal Democratic Party advocates expanding renewable energy but has not clearly stated its position on nuclear power.
Smaller progressive parties, including the Justice Party and the Progressive Party, offered more detailed proposals centred on phasing out nuclear power and accelerating the shift to renewable energy, the group said.
KFEM also criticised the lack of detailed policies aimed at protecting biodiversity and restoring ecosystems.
It said many parties failed to outline concrete plans for preserving rivers, forests and marine ecosystems, despite their importance in tackling climate change and biodiversity loss.
The group said the People Power Party lacked a clear environmental vision at the national level, while the Reform Party approached environmental issues largely through economic development and resource utilisation policies.
By contrast, the Justice Party and Progressive Party proposed measures such as expanding payments for ecosystem services, reviewing plans for new dams and addressing algae blooms in South Korea’s major rivers, KFEM said.
On waste management, the group said many parties continued to focus on waste collection and treatment rather than reducing waste generation and expanding reuse systems.
The assessment of local election candidates found that development projects dominated campaign platforms across the country.
Industrial parks, transport infrastructure, airport construction and tourism developments featured prominently in candidates’ pledges, while responses to climate change and biodiversity loss were often given less attention, KFEM said.
Many candidates referred to terms including carbon neutrality, RE100 renewable energy commitments and environmentally friendly industries.
But KFEM also found limited policy proposals addressing regional environmental challenges such as wildfires, industrial waste, harmful algal blooms, coal-fired power generation, concentrations of nuclear facilities, marine ecosystem degradation and uncontrolled development.
“Rather than becoming a platform for policy competition aimed at addressing the climate and biodiversity crises, this election has largely remained focused on presenting development projects as environmentally friendly initiatives,” KFEM said in a statement.
