Advertisement
South Korea
OpinionComment
Erin Eunseo Choi
Erin Eunseo Choi

Macroscope | South Korea’s new president must keep his pledge for a bold switch to electric vehicles

  • Yoon Suk-yeol ran as a conservative, but his campaign promises include a progressive move to ban new internal combustion vehicles by 2035
  • Following through would make South Korea a climate change leader in Asia and create thousands of new jobs in the auto industry

Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
0
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol waves from a car after the presidential inauguration outside the National Assembly in Seoul on May 10. Photo: AP
Erin Eunseo Choi
Few expected South Korea’s new president, who was inaugurated on Tuesday, to be a strong advocate for climate action. Yoon Suk-yeol is known for his hawkish foreign policy stance and conservative views on social issues.

Yet, buried within Yoon’s campaign promises is a commitment that would set South Korea’s auto industry apart as one of the most progressive in Asia. In his election pledge book, Yoon committed to ban the new registration of internal combustion engine vehicles by 2035.

A ban on the sale of petrol and diesel vehicles would have major benefits for South Korea’s economy, auto industry and climate diplomacy.

If he keeps his word, Yoon’s pledge would bring South Korea’s fossil-fuel vehicle phase-out timeline in line with International Energy Agency (IEA) recommendations and would position the country as a leading force in the decarbonisation of road transport in Asia.

The IEA cautions that, to achieve global net zero carbon emissions by the middle of the century, more than 60 per cent of cars sold worldwide by 2030 must be electric vehicles (EVs). Also, no new combustion engine passenger cars can be sold from 2035.

Canada, the European Union and California have each banned the sale of new internal combustion engine vehicles effective in 2035, and some governments such as Norway and the United Kingdom have set even earlier targets.

Advertisement