• The name of the policy: EV and Hydro as New Growth Engines
• The year it was put into place and, if known, the year in which it is to expire: 2019
• Who is responsible for implementing it: Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy

The South Korean government plans to focus on innovative industries such as hydrogen and electric cars to build a foundation for future economic growth.

In the 2019 New Year’s press conference, held on January 10 at the Blue House guesthouse, President Moon Jae-in said, “What is needed to sustain growth is ‘Innovation’, which transforms a catching-up economy into a leading economy, ” and ” We (South Korea) will revitalize existing industries through ‘innovation’ and foster new industries that will become new growth engines. ”

In particular, the Moon administration has selected strategic areas for ‘innovation growth’, such as electricity and hydrogen cars.

Moon highlighted that “[w]e have increased the supply of electric and hydrogen cars and laid the foundations for future growth engines. The number of electric vehicles reached 25,000 by 2017, but 32,000 were added only in 2018. The number of hydrogen vehicles increased significantly from 177 to 889.” He also mentioned that the government is expected to supply 430,000 electric cars and 67,000 hydrogen cars by 2022, and 2,000 hydrogen buses by 2022, which will help reduce the number of diesel cars and contribute to reducing fine dusts pollution.

In addition, he pledged that the government will financially support with KRW 1.5 trillion for the three major industries including data, artificial intelligence, and hydrogen economy.

On January 17, Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy released a press release and announced that the government will pursue lowering the hydrogen price down to less than 3,000 won / kg within 40 years through establishing an economic and stable hydrogen distribution system. The government aims for establishing an industrial ecosystem that can lead the hydrogen economy with the ‘hydrogen cars’ and ‘fuel cells’ in which South Korea has technological strengths.

Please send the following message to the policymaker(s) below.

Dear Minister Yunmo Sung,

We at Climate Scorecard would like to appreciate President Moon’s initiatives for developing innovative technologies and expanding relevant markets, which can contribute to reducing CO2 emission.However, we do not see a concrete roadmap and detailed measures for realizing what President Moon suggested.

We are looking forward to seeing those.

Contact:

Minister Yunmo Sung
Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy

Mr. Sung-su Park
Smart Energy Division,
New and Renewable Energy Policy Bureau,
Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy
Tel. +82-44-203-5398
Address. 402 Hannuri-daero, Sejong-si, 30118, Republic of Korea

Learn More:

http://www.todayenergy.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=210395
http://www.motie.go.kr/motie/ne/presse/press2/bbs/bbsView.do?bbs_seq_n=161262&bbs_cd_n=81&currentPage=1&search_key_n=&cate_n=&dept_v=&search_val_v=