SEOUL - The Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) in South Korea reported on Tuesday that the greenhouse gas reduction goal set by the former Moon Jae-in administration lacked adequate verification. This finding raises questions about the feasibility and planning behind the country's climate change strategies.
According to Yonhap News Agency, In 2021, the Moon government significantly revised its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) target, elevating it from a 26.3 percent reduction to a 40 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. The BAI stressed the importance of establishing such goals based on objective criteria, especially given the challenges associated with amending targets in national projects at a later stage.
The audit also underscored the need for setting realistic objectives, taking into account the potential involvement of judicial processes and the impact on the government's budget. Concerns were raised by the BAI regarding the Greenhouse Gas Inventory and Research Center under the environment ministry, which formulated the goal without involving experts in data collection. This approach deviated from the methods used for previous NDC targets.
The 2021 goal, aiming to achieve a 40 percent reduction in emissions relative to 2018 levels, was part of the broader ambition of the Moon government to phase out conventional energy resources and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.