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South Korea Requires Companies to Set Carbon Targets (Update1)
2010-09-28 03:40:31.831 GMT
(Updates with comments from analyst in fourth paragraph.)
By Shinhye Kang
Sept. 28 (Bloomberg) -- South Korea, Asia's fourth-biggest
polluter, said more than 300 companies including Samsung
Electronics Co. and Posco must set energy-saving and greenhouse
gas-reduction targets by September 2011 to fight global warming.
They will face fines of as much as 10 million won ($8,708)
if the targets aren't met, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy
said in an e-mailed statement today. Only companies with
factories producing at least 25,000 metric tons of carbon
dioxide a year are required to set goals, the ministry said,
without specifying the size of the reduction targets.
South Korea said in November it plans to voluntarily cut
emissions by 30 percent by 2020 under a "business as usual"
scenario. The 374 companies identified by the government
produced 361 million metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2007, or
58 percent of the nation's emissions, according to the ministry.
"It's positive that the government is starting to
implement actual measures," Choi Seung Kook, secretary general
of Green Korea United, a non-profit group, said by telephone.
"Still, I'm not sure whether this will be effective as the fine
is too small to spur large companies to reduce emissions."
The government will also adopt a carbon-offset system under
which companies imparting technical knowledge on carbon
reduction to smaller firms can earn emissions credits, the
ministry said.
Of the 374 companies identified, 78 are petrochemical
producers, 57 are paper and wood-processing companies and 36 are
power generators, the ministry said. On the list are also 34
steel companies and 31 electronic chip makers. The targets must
be implemented starting 2012, according to the ministry.
South Korea's annual emissions may rise to 813 million tons
by 2020 in the absence of measures to curb carbon output, a
committee under the presidential office said on Aug. 4. That
would be an increase of 37 percent from the 594.4 million tons
produced in 2005.
For Related News and Information:
Top environment news page: GREEN <GO>
Most-read climate-change stories: MNI CLIMATE <GO>
South Korea's energy statistics: ENST <GO>
Top energy stories: ETOP <GO>
--Editors: Ryan Woo, John Chacko.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Shinhye Kang in Seoul at +82-2-3702-1638 or
skang24@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Amit Prakash at +65-6212-1167 or
aprakash1@bloomberg.net.
