{"id":422735,"date":"2026-01-23T23:11:55","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T22:11:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=422735"},"modified":"2026-01-23T23:11:58","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T22:11:58","slug":"south-koreas-developing-net-zero-debacle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=422735","title":{"rendered":"South Korea\u2019s Developing Net Zero Debacle"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From The CO2 Coalition<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Vijay Jayaraj<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Neglectful of the economic wreckage that net zero policies have wrought in the U.K. and Germany, economic powerhouse South Korea has declared war on coal and liquified natural gas (LNG) to pursue more aggressive reductions of greenhouse gas emissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exhibiting a national masochism, Seoul is abandoning the very fuels that built its economy \u2013 and along with oil, the entire industrial world. By 2038, the country\u00a0plans to slash<\/a>\u00a0LNG\u2019s and coal\u2019s combined share of power generation from 60% to 20% while boosting the share of so-called renewable sources \u2013 like wind and solar \u2013 to 33% from today\u2019s 9%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Until November 2025, things looked more sane as Seoul worked to secure its future. The government boosted investments in regional LNG ventures, expanded strategic petroleum reserves, and directed its energy giants \u2013 SK Innovation and KOGAS \u2013 to secure natural gas from Indonesia and Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then, the government has replaced that playbook with objectives void of reason. The new plan<\/a> demands a 40% cut in industrial emissions by 2030 (from 2018 levels) and bets the farm on unproven technologies like hydrogen, wind and solar. This is not a rational transition but rather reckless virtue signaling that puts national survival at risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps the most dangerous part of Seoul\u2019s new direction is its projected replacement of LNG with hydrogen. Hydrogen and fuel cells are to contribute 7% of the power mix<\/a>. This is a delusion, as demonstrated by failed projects that filled 2025\u2019s \u201chydrogen graveyard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Australia\u2019s Central Queensland Hydrogen Project, a $14 billion flagship meant for exports,\u00a0collapsed this year<\/a>\u00a0after government support was pulled. British multinational BP\u00a0exited<\/a>\u00a0the massive 26-gigawatt Australian Renewable Energy Hub in the Pilbara. Energy developer Fortescue, the loudest cheerleader for green hydrogen,\u00a0walked away<\/a>\u00a0from projects in Arizona and its home country of Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Germany\u2019s LEAG project, touted as one of Europe\u2019s largest green energy hubs, has been postponed indefinitely<\/a>. ArcelorMittal\u2019s green steel plants in Bremen were shelved despite offers of billion-euro subsidies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In South Korea, the consequences of such foolishness will be lost jobs and shuttered factories. More than 30% of South Korea<\/a>\u2019s gross domestic product comes from its industrial sector, almost double that of the U.K<\/a>. The making of steel, petrochemicals and semiconductors requires constant, stable power, which weather-dependent wind and solar cannot provide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Introducing \u201cgreen\u201d energy into power grids forces industries to pay the additional costs of backup electricity sources or worse, to curtail operations at factories. We already know how this movie ends, having watched it play out in Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Germany, the continent\u2019s model of green virtue, finds itself deindustrializing \u2013 at a rate of 4.5% in 2024, on par with a multi-year downward trend. The same year, the U.K.\u2019s industrial energy consumption fell by 1.2% from 2023 to record what the government notes<\/a> was \u201cthe lowest industrial consumption for over 50 years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bank of England has warned<\/a>: \u201cNet zero policies are slowing the global economy.\u201d The World Bank predicts that \u201cthe 2020s will be the weakest decade for global growth since its records began in the 1960s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether this decline is by design or daft incompetence, the effects are predictable. In a renewables-dominated Korean grid, bulk material industries like POSCO\u2019s steel mills and Lotte\u2019s petrochemical plants could be the first casualties, competing as they do on razor-thin margins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The approval of the Saeul-3 nuclear reactor in South Korea and the advance of small modular reactors are positive signs. Nuclear power is the only non-fossil source that offers the energy density and reliability that an industrial economy needs. But let\u2019s be real: Nuclear plants cannot be put into operation in sufficient numbers fast enough to replace the massive hole the government is digging by slashing the use of fossil fuels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is not too late to reverse course. South Korea became the \u201cMiracle on the Han River\u201d by ignoring ideological fads and focusing on ruthless economic efficiency. The question Seoul must answer is whether it will govern for its citizens or surrender its sovereignty to an international pseudo-scientific collaboration of ideologues that benefits neither workers nor manufacturers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nor, for that matter, the planet the cult purports to be saving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Originally published in California Globe<\/em><\/a> on <\/em>January 21, 2026.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vijay Jayaraj is a Science and Research Associate at the <\/em>CO2 Coalition<\/em><\/a>, Fairfax, Virginia. He holds an M.S. in environmental sciences from the University of East Anglia and a postgraduate degree in energy management from Robert Gordon University, both in the U.K., and a bachelor\u2019s in engineering from Anna University, India. He served as a research associate with the Changing Oceans Research Unit at University of British Columbia, Canada.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Neglectful of the economic wreckage that net zero policies have wrought in the U.K. and Germany, economic powerhouse South Korea has declared war on coal and liquified natural gas (LNG) to pursue more aggressive reductions of greenhouse gas emissions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":422739,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"Explore South Korea's ambitious net zero policies, their impact on the economy, and the potential risks that lie ahead for industry.","jetpack_seo_html_title":"South Korea's Net Zero Plans: Economic Risks and Reality Check","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvY2xpbWF0ZS1zY2llbmNlLnByZXNzXC93cC1jb250ZW50XC91cGxvYWRzXC8yMDI2XC8wMVwvMEFRTnkwdWNPODF1YnJsVlRWRnZ0djlCRzh3M1dPTElIeExIYnNsOTdNTWI4bHRobm5iaVBGZHAySGxFZ2pubGJQcW04UWxySkhhSFZPTHBXVXg1akd2UFRzX1B1SkcwV0c0YWY1bEdVckdNdnZTa2J5SjlHaUx2ck0yeVVKQ3Y0LTEtMTAyNHg1NDIuanBlZyIsInR4dCI6IlNvdXRoIEtvcmVhXHUyMDE5cyBEZXZlbG9waW5nIE5ldCBaZXJvIERlYmFjbGUiLCJ0ZW1wbGF0ZSI6ImhpZ2h3YXkiLCJmb250IjoiIiwiYmxvZ19pZCI6MTU1ODEyNDQ5fQ.bLa7Owdei53LkrSJvaBCO6I40nivdnwc0bLhErnsUm0MQ"},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691818216,691818051,691819027,691840895,691818376,691818154,691831739,691820129,691820465],"class_list":["post-422735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-australia","tag-germany","tag-indonesia","tag-liquid-nitrogen-gas","tag-natural-gas","tag-net-zero","tag-seoul","tag-south-korea","tag-world-bank","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/0AQNy0ucO81ubrlVTVFvtv9BG8w3WOLIHxLHbsl97MMb8lthnnbiPFdp2HlEgjnlbPqm8QlrJHaHVOLpWUx5jGvPTs_PuJG0WG4af5lGUrGMvvSkbyJ9GiLvrM2yUJCv4-1.jpeg?fit=1783%2C944&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1LYj","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":442125,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=442125","url_meta":{"origin":422735,"position":0},"title":"South Korea\u2019s Net Zero Boast Crumbles","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"05\/01\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Just a few months ago, South Korean officials were busy boasting about extreme net zero targets. 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