With the presidential election approaching, major presidential candidates have announced additional energy pledges. Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party of Korea's presidential candidate, included the establishment of a Ministry of Climate and Energy in the policy book, further elaborating on renewable energy-related pledges. Previously, Kim Moon-soo of the People Power Party held the stance that "RE100 (procuring 100% of used electricity from renewable sources) is impossible," but included "support for RE100" in the policy book.
◇ Lee emphasizes establishment of Ministry of Climate and Energy… RE100 in public institutions and semiconductor clusters
According to the Democratic Party of Korea, on the 31st, Lee Jae-myung included a pledge to establish a Ministry of Climate and Energy in the 21st presidential election policy book, which was not among the existing top 10 pledges. The goal is to serve as the control tower for climate and energy policies and actively respond to greenhouse gas reduction and climate crisis.
Lee noted on Facebook at the time, "To resolve complex crises such as weakened industrial competitiveness and damage from the climate crisis, policies need to be comprehensive and integrated. Yet we are still responding to various issues like climate, energy, and human rights sporadically," and stated the intention to lay the cornerstone for carbon neutrality by establishing climate and energy.
However, there are concerns within the government about potential side effects from establishing the Ministry of Climate and Energy. The energy sector is closely linked to industrial and trade sectors, which could present challenges in policy implementation if it splits off into a Ministry of Climate and Energy.
In the policy book, Lee also demonstrated a strong commitment to strengthening the renewable energy sector. He concretized existing renewable energy pledges, including ▲ enhancing the public nature of renewable energy and securing the competitiveness of public enterprises in renewable energy ▲ promoting public RE100 in public institution buildings, railroads, roads, etc. ▲ developing an RE100 semiconductor cluster in the southeastern part of Gyeonggi ▲ developing Saemangeum as a global renewable energy hub ▲ and developing the Jeolla, southwestern sea, and Jeju areas as bases for offshore wind power.
Lee also emphasized and expanded on previously proposed energy highway, solar pensions, and wind pensions pledges. There was no mention of issues related to nuclear power, which accounts for 32.76% of the nation's total power generation.
◇ Kim reduces nuclear power ratio from 60% to 35%… includes support for RE100 in pledges
Kim Moon-soo had previously set the nuclear energy generation ratio at 60%, but lowered it to 35%. This aligns with the 2038 nuclear power generation ratio (35%) set out in the 11th basic plan for electricity supply and demand.
Earlier, experts had pointed out that pledging to increase nuclear power to 60% faced challenges such as long construction periods of over 20 years for large-scale nuclear plants and difficulty in site selection. These critiques are believed to have influenced Kim’s policy revision.
Kim also included a pledge to support corporate responses to carbon-neutral trade barriers such as RE100 and CF100. While Kim had previously maintained a negative stance on RE100, claiming “RE100 is impossible,” the content was included in the pledge book.
RE100 aims to meet 100% of electricity needs with renewable energy. Nuclear power is not included in renewable energy. CF100 requires 100% of electricity supply from carbon-free energy, which includes nuclear power, fuel cells, etc.
Kim pledged to pursue reductions in industrial electricity rates and foundational funds while also presenting a pledge to support management improvements of energy public enterprises like the Korea Electric Power Corporation.
KEPCO's accumulated liability stands at 205 trillion won, the highest in its history. This is due to rising power generation costs coupled with delayed electricity rate hikes. As a result, an increase in electricity rates is needed to resolve KEPCO's liabilities, but a separate solution was not proposed.