The politics of climate change in a neo-developmental state: The case of South Korea

Developmental State ◽

Green Technology ◽

Greenhouse Gas Mitigation ◽

Green Technologies ◽

Climate Policies ◽

Global Leader ◽

South Korea is the seventh largest emitter of CO2 and its climate-change mitigation policies are clearly insufficient. At the same time, the country has been very ambitious in implementing industrial policies promoting green technologies and international initiatives to support greenhouse gas mitigation in developing countries. What explains this discrepancy between weak emission goals and strong investments in green technology as well as ambitions to become a green ‘global leader’? This article argues that the specific character of Korean climate policies can be understood in the context of Korea’s legacy as a developmental state characterized by strong corporatist links between state and business as well as a weak civil society.

Assessment of Climate Change Mitigation Benefits and Their Integration in Climate Policies

Willingness to Pay Framework ◽

10.1201/9781003126171-2 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 3-27

Author(s):

Dalia Štreimikienė ◽

Asta Mikalauskienė

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Climate Policies ◽

Incorporating built environment factors into climate change mitigation strategies for Seoul, South Korea: A sustainable urban systems framework

Habitat International ◽

10.1016/j.habitatint.2008.10.020 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 33 (3) ◽

pp. 267-275 ◽

Cited By ~ 26

Author(s):

J.H. Jo ◽

J.S. Golden ◽

S.W. Shin

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Built Environment ◽

South Korea ◽

Mitigation Strategies ◽

Urban Systems ◽

Environment Factors ◽

Systems Framework ◽

Discourses on sustainable forest management and their integration into climate policies in South Africa

International Forestry Review ◽

10.1505/146554821832952762 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 23 (2) ◽

pp. 168-181

Author(s):

C. Ofoegbu ◽

C. Ifejika Speranza

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

South Africa ◽

Forest Management ◽

Forest Policy ◽

Mitigation And Adaptation ◽

Climate Policies ◽

Policy Goals ◽

Four Discourses ◽

In South Africa, forests can play an important role in achieving the broader goals of climate change mitigation and adaptation. However, national policies on climate change mitigation and adaptation seem to narrow the potential contributions of the forest sector to climate protection targets. This is largely because of the divergence between the management goals of forests for climate protection, and products for both industries and livelihoods. This article uses discourse analysis as a methodological tool to analyze South Africa's climate and forest policies to identify the discourses shaping forest policy goals and mandates, and their integration into climate policy targets for forest-based climate change interventions. Four discourses, namely, preservation of forest integrity, social inclusiveness, equitable benefit sharing, and inclusive development of forests and forest-based communities, were identified as the dominant discourses influencing forest policy goals in South Africa. Their influence on forest management programmes has a mix of costs and benefits outcomes. For example, policy responses to the discourse on the preservation of forest integrity have resulted in ecologically sustainable forests in some cases and in other cases restricted the participation of local people in forest enterprise development. Additionally, climate policies recognized six possible interventions with respect to forest-based climate change mitigation and adaptation in South Africa but were silent about the four discourses shaping forest policy goals. Consequently, existing climate policies do not contain regulations to guide forest management for climate change mitigation and adaptation. We therefore recommend that forest-related goals in climate policy be grounded in the past experiences and lessons of forest policy implementations in order to take advantage of the synergies and reduce the trade-offs with respect to multipurpose management of forests for livelihoods, enterprise development, and climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Climate Change Triage

10.31228/osf.io/86zw9 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Noah M. Sachs

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Emergency Medicine ◽

International Law ◽

Moral Theory ◽

Climate Change Policy ◽

Policy Implications ◽

Climate Policies ◽

Change Policy ◽

Climate change is the first global triage crisis. It is caused by the overuse of a severely limited natural resource—the atmosphere’s capacity to absorb greenhouse gases—and millions of lives depend on how international law allocates this resource among nations.This Article is the first to explore solutions for climate change mitigation through the lens of triage ethics, drawing on law, philosophy, moral theory, and economics. The literature on triage ethics—developed in contexts such as battlefield trauma, organ donation, emergency medicine, and distribution of food and shelter—has direct implications for climate change policy and law, yet it has been overlooked by climate change scholars. The triage lens rules out climate policies—including the current emissions path—that will lead to catastrophic warming, and it puts options on the table that are marginalized in the current United Nations negotiations on a climate change agreement.This Article examines three allocation principles that could potentially apply in climate change triage—utilitarianism, egalitarianism, and a market-based distribution—and it concludes that egalitarianism is the preferable allocation principle from the standpoint of ethics and international law. This Article ends by exploring four major policy implications that emerge from viewing climate change through the lens of triage.

Spatial and Temporal Patterns of Forest Management Activities from 1990 to 2019 to Demonstrate Additionality for Climate Change Mitigation in the Forest Sector of South Korea

Forests ◽

10.3390/f12081003 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (8) ◽

pp. 1003

Author(s):

Seunghyun Lee ◽

Sunjeoung Lee ◽

Hee Han ◽

Joungwon You ◽

Jongsu Yim ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Forest Management ◽

South Korea ◽

Temporal Patterns ◽

Carbon Sinks ◽

Spatial And Temporal Patterns ◽

Protected Forests ◽

Management Ratio ◽

Forest management is key to maintaining and increasing carbon sinks in forests. In the context of climate change mitigation, the exact number of carbon sinks associated with forest management is estimated as the additionality of activities, which means net greenhouse gas (GHG) removals or carbon sequestration over and above those that would have arisen even in the absence of a given activity. This study analyzes the spatial and temporal patterns of forest management activities to present the forest management ratio, of managed area to the total forest area, as an indicator of additionality in forest management in South Korea. Forest management activities based on the IPCC guidelines were spatially constructed, and the characteristics of managed and protected forests from 1990 to 2019 were analyzed. The results indicate that between the managed forests and roads, 90% of the management activities in private forests occurred within 214 m of the road, and 70% of the activities in the national forest occurred within 234 m. Management took place in easy-to-access places with gentle slopes and low elevations. The proportion of protected forests above 40 years old is 87.2%, higher than the average of 72% in South Korea, and it is expected that most forests will age and their carbon absorption capacity will decrease by 2050. The area of tree planting and thinning is approximately 290 thousand ha per year, which could potentially increase the forest management ratio by up to 4.5% per year. However, the actual increase was at an average of 1.4%, owing to the omission of exact information on management activities, such as spatial coordinates and overlapping practices in the same management unit. The forest management ratio in South Korea as of 2019 was 53.4%; therefore, the amount of GHG removal in the forest sectors was 53.4% of total absorption per year. Thus, it is necessary to make efforts to increase the ratio to enhance the contribution of forest sectors to climate change mitigation for the country.

Different Countries, Common Support for Climate Change Mitigation: The Case of Germany and Poland

Climate ◽

10.3390/cli9020027 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. 27

Author(s):

Zbigniew Bohdanowicz

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Climate Policy ◽

Emotional Response ◽

Carbon Tax ◽

The Public ◽

Climate Policies ◽

Common Support ◽

Climate Crisis ◽

There are numerous studies assessing the influence of individual sociological, political, and demographic factors on attitudes towards climate change. However, there is still a need for a deeper understanding of the reasons behind these attitudes and for research based on results from more than one country. This study empirically examines a range of psychosocial and demographic determinants of support for climate policy (renewable energy, energy efficiency and carbon tax) in Germany and Poland (n = 1969). The results show that the societies of both countries, despite significant differences in income, culture and political stance on climate change, similarly support implementation of climate policies. For both countries valid predictors of support are: awareness, emotional response to climate crisis, sense of control, and belief in effectiveness of solutions; the study also shows predictors relevant in only one country. Factor analysis identified similar dimensions of attitudes toward climate change in both countries. The main findings show that support for climate policy is high in both countries and that the public is ready to accept more ambitious climate goals. Despite the differences between the countries, a coherent climate policy seems justified. The study also shows differences between the countries and provides recommendations for policymakers.

Experimental evidence of an environmental attitude-behavior gap in high-cost situations

10.31235/osf.io/5wxrs ◽

2019 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Mike Farjam ◽

Olexandr Nikolaychuk ◽

Giangiacomo Bravo

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Real World ◽

Environmental Attitudes ◽

Low Cost ◽

Environmental Attitude ◽

Climate Policies ◽

Environmental Objectives ◽

Attitude Behavior ◽

So far, there has been mixed evidence in the literature regarding the relation between environmental attitudes and actual ``green'' actions, something known as attitude-behavior gap. This raises the question of when attitudes can actually work as a lever to promote environmental objectives, such as climate change mitigation, and, conversely, when other factors would be more effective. We tested the effect of environmental attitudes on behavior in an online experiment with real money at stake and real-world consequences. We found that environmental attitudes affected behavior in low-cost situations while increasing contribution costs generally reduced their effect. This finding is consistent with the low-cost hypothesis of environmental behavior and has important consequences for the design of more effective climate policies in a democratic context.

Public Perceptions of Climate Change and Support for Climate Policies in Asia: Evidence from Recent Polls

The Journal of Asian Studies ◽

10.1017/s0021911811000064 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 70 (2) ◽

pp. 319-331 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

So Young Kim

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Focal Point ◽

Climate Change Policy ◽

Public Perceptions ◽

Climate Policies ◽

Change Policy ◽

Global Coordination ◽

Change Mitigation ◽

Cross National

Climate change has become a focal point in recent environmental debates and policymaking. Latest polls show rising consensus among the global public on the urgency of the problem. Home to the fastest growing economies as well as to four of the ten largest greenhouse gas emitters, Asia holds key to successful global coordination on climate change policy. This essay draws a contour of Asian public opinion on climate change issues based on multiple cross-national polls. While generally aware of climate change and seriously concerned about its effects, Asians turn out to be the least willing to bear the costs of climate change mitigation as compared to the residents of other regions of the world. This portends a great hurdle to devising and implementing proactive policies to address the challenges of climate change in the region.

Green Technology Fitness

Entropy ◽

10.3390/e20100776 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 20 (10) ◽

pp. 776 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Angelica Sbardella ◽

François Perruchas ◽

Lorenzo Napolitano ◽

Nicolò Barbieri ◽

Davide Consoli

Keyword(s):

Direct Relationship ◽

Green Technology ◽

Patent Data ◽

Geographical Pattern ◽

Green Technologies ◽

Empirical Regularities ◽

Catch Up ◽

Per Capita ◽

The present study provides an analysis of empirical regularities in the development of green technology. We use patent data to examine inventions that can be traced to the environment-related catalogue (ENV-Tech) covering technologies in environmental management, water-related adaptation and climate change mitigation. Furthermore, we employ the Economic Fitness-Complexity (EFC) approach to assess their development and geographical distribution across countries between 1970 and 2010. This allows us to identify three typologies of countries: leaders, laggards and catch-up. While, as expected, there is a direct relationship between GDP per capita and invention capacity, we also document the remarkable growth of East Asia countries that started from the periphery and rapidly established themselves as key actors. This geographical pattern coincides with higher integration across domains so that, while the relative development of individual areas may have peaked, there is now demand for greater interoperability across green technologies.

An Alternative Co-Benefit Framework Prioritizing Health Impacts: Potential Air Pollution and Climate Change Mitigation Pathways through Energy Sector Fuel Substitution in South Korea

Climate ◽

10.3390/cli9060101 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (6) ◽

pp. 101

Author(s):

Dafydd Phillips ◽

Tae Yong Jung

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Air Pollution ◽

South Korea ◽

Respiratory Infections ◽

Chronic Obstructive ◽

Years Of Life Lost ◽

Premature Deaths ◽

Fuel Substitution ◽

South Korea had the highest annual average PM2.5 exposure levels in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2019, and air pollution is consistently ranked as citizens’ top environmental concern. South Korea is also one of the world’s top ten emitter countries of CO2. Co-benefit mitigation policies can address both air pollution and climate change. Utilizing an alternative co-benefit approach, which views air pollution reduction as the primary goal and climate change mitigation as secondary, this research conducts a scenario analysis to forecast the health and climate benefits of fuel substitution in South Korea’s electricity generation sector. Health benefits are calculated by avoided premature mortality and years of life lost (YLL) due to ischemic heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), lung cancer, and acute lower respiratory infections (ALRI). The study finds that use of liquefied natural gas (LNG) instead of coal over the 2022-2050 period would result in an average of 116 fewer premature deaths (1,152 YLL) and 80.8 MTCO2e fewer emissions per year. Over the same period, maintaining and maximizing the use of its nuclear energy capacity, combined with replacing coal use with LNG, would result in an average of 161 fewer premature deaths (1,608 YLL) and 123.7 MTCO2e fewer emissions per year.