Seoul: South Korea's annual greenhouse gas emissions fell below 700 million tons last year for the first time since 2010, due to the increased share of nuclear and renewable energy generation, the environment ministry said Wednesday. The ministry reported that last year's national greenhouse gas emissions were provisionally calculated at 691.58 million tons.
According to Yonhap News Agency, national greenhouse gas emissions data take about two years to finalize, so provisional figures are released first, with the gap being around 0.3 to 0.4 percent. The provisional figure for last year marks the lowest level since 721.6 million tons in 2011 and represents a 2 percent decrease from the 2023 estimate of 705 million tons, as noted by the ministry. The government's goal to reduce national greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by 2030 compared with the 2018 levels has also seen progress.
The decrease in greenhouse gas emissions last year is attributed to the nation's reduced reliance on coal and increased use of nuclear and renewable energy for electricity production. However, in other sectors, there were no reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.