Lessons of the German Energy Transition for South Korea - Regional Programme Energy Security and Climate Change in Asia and the Pacific
Event Reports
President Moon released an ambitious plan for energy transition with phasing out nuclear power plants and aiming to increase renewable energy up to 20 percent of total energy supply by 2030. In this respect, the German “Energiewende” (energy transition) might provide some important lessons to be learnt both in conceptualisation as well as in implementation.
Against this background, the Korean Climate Change Center (CCC) published a comparative study on Germany´s energy policy and the conclusions to be drawn for a more sustainable energy system in South Korea. This policy paper was funded by Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and is available here.
On 28 February 2018 Konrad Adenauer Stiftung’s Hongkong-based Regional Project Energy Security and Climate Change Asia-Pacific (KAS RECAP), together with the Korean-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KGCCI) and Climate Change Center (CCC) hosted a luncheon discussion on “Lessons of the German Energy Transition for South Korea” in Seoul.
Prof. Taedong LEE, Associate Professor of Yonsei University for Political Science and International Studies and Director of Environment Energy and Human Resource Development Center, and Hyeji SHIN, researcher and author of the study at CCC, introduced to the study.
Based on the findings of the research paper the following main policy recommendations can be drawn:
- Mainstreaming energy transition: as a cross-cutting issue, energy transformation affects almost all fields of policy. Thus, a platform should be created to share information and create opportunities for more cooperation among different stakeholders.
- Establishing an energy transition institution: an agency solely dedicated to energy transition and its implementation might be instrumental to developing a coherent framework for policymakers and investors.
- Providing financial supports: economic incentives such us feed-in-tariffs (FIT) or emission trade systems (ETS) should be used more widely to foster investments by small- and medium-sized renewable energy providers.
- Building up regional energy transition cooperation: the countries in North-East Asia should increase regional cooperation by sharing knowledge of energy transition and increasing energy security.
Several topics have been discussed in more detail. A broader engagement of civil society stakeholders is the decisive point for any successful implementation. Wide-scale investment in renewable energy requires much larger financial benefits while avoiding long-term subsidisation. Due to geographical restrictions, there is only limited space for PV and wind installations in South Korea, so that energy efficiency plays a major role in emission reduction. Maintaining energy security was considered as a crucial factor for the transition period, in particular during the phasing out nuclear power plants. Creating “smart cities” will provide plenty of innovative markets for small and medium scale enterprises and provide opportunities for bilateral cooperation between South Korea and Germany.
The panellists agreed that Germany's “Energiewende” can serve in many aspects as a point of reference for South Korea, despite its differences and shortcomings. In Germany, there has been 50 years of environmental movements and almost 40 years of “Energiewende”, while South Korea's energy transition has just begun.
