South Korea plans to invest as much as one quadrillion Korean won, or $747 billion, in renewable energy, EV uptake, and industry decarbonization by 2035 as it looks to address energy security concerns and tightening global carbon regulations.
Senior South Korean officials on Wednesday presented the details of the so-called Korea Green Transformation (K-GX) Strategy through 2035, which includes targeting 100 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy capacity by 2030, and electric and hydrogen vehicles topping 70% of new vehicle sales by 2035. In addition, South Korea will aim to slash emissions in key industrial sectors, including steel, cement manufacturing, semiconductors, petrochemicals, and refining.
“We must move away from the practice of chasing others and become architects and leaders of the green market ourselves,” South Korea’s President, Lee Jae Myung, said at a news conference, as carried by Reuters.
South Korea also looks to strengthen its energy security in the aftermath of the Middle East crisis, which forced its refiners and utilities to search for alternative crude oil and LNG supplies as cargoes were trapped in the Strait of Hormuz.
The country, one of the biggest oil and gas importers in Asia, is diversifying oil and gas sourcing, but without a major leap into homegrown renewable energy, it remains heavily dependent on geopolitical turbulence and supply shocks.
Current wind and solar capacity in South Korea could save $4.7 billion in fossil fuel import costs this year alone as energy commodity prices spiked, clean energy think tank Ember said in June.
As of the early-June 2026 spot prices, South Korea’s annual fossil fuel imports for the whole energy sector would hit $133 billion, research by Ember and Global Energy Monitor showed. That sum is almost six times the country’s annual debt repayments, three and a half times food imports, and almost three times its defense expenditure.
The 100-GW renewables target by 2030 could avoid an additional $12 billion in annual fossil fuel import costs, Ember said.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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