South Korea will unveil a sweeping national strategy in June to drive its transition to clean energy and position it as a core engine of economic growth, the country’s environment minister said on Monday.
Speaking at an international green transition forum in the city of Yeosu, minister Kim Sung-hwan said the upcoming “Green Great Transformation Strategy” would set out a long-term roadmap to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, while responding to rising electricity demand driven by artificial intelligence and structural energy security risks.
“The energy transition is no longer a choice but a necessity,” Kim said, adding that the government aims to build a green manufacturing powerhouse alongside balanced regional development.
The plan includes expanding renewable energy capacity to 100 gigawatts (GW) by 2030 and raising the share of renewables in the power mix to at least 20 per cent, while phasing out coal-fired power generation and restructuring the electricity system around cleaner sources.
However, South Korea starts from a relatively low base compared with other advanced economies. Despite rapid growth in solar capacity in recent years, renewables still account for one of the smallest shares of electricity generation among the primarily industrialised-country members of the International Energy Agency (IEA), according to the agency.
Fossil fuels continue to dominate the country’s energy mix, with coal and gas together supplying roughly 60 per cent of electricity, while nuclear power remains a major source of low-carbon energy.
South Korea’s renewable electricity share has nearly doubled over the past five years, but remains far below levels seen in Europe or other major economies, highlighting the scale of the transition challenge.
The IEA cited limited land availability, high population density and public resistance to new infrastructure projects as factors that made it harder to deploy large-scale solar and wind installations, while the country’s lack of cross-border grid interconnections reduces flexibility in balancing supply and demand.
South Korea’s current 2030 target of around 20 per cent renewable electricity is also considered modest by international standards. Climate think tank Ember noted that the goal falls well below the levels required under global net-zero pathways, where renewables are expected to account for a majority share of power generation.
Globally, the transition is moving much faster. Renewables are projected to supply more than 40 per cent of electricity generation by 2030 and meet the vast majority of new demand growth, driven by rapid expansion in solar and wind power, according to the IEA.
Against this backdrop, Kim said the government would pursue a “whole-of-economy” approach, combining industrial electrification, green finance and power market reforms to accelerate decarbonisation.
The power system will be redesigned into a decentralised and two-way structure, with reforms to electricity pricing and market rules to better integrate renewable energy, he added.
The strategy also aims to expand the benefits of the transition to local communities through an “energy income model”, allowing citizens to participate in renewable energy projects such as solar and wind initiatives and grid investments.
The announcement came at the “Green Transformation (GX) International Week”, which brought together policymakers and experts from South Korea, Japan and the European Union to discuss energy transition policies, supply chains and cooperation.
Kim said the forum would serve as a milestone for identifying solutions to the global energy transition and strengthening international collaboration.
