82% of Companies Say "Low Feasibility of Achieving NDC 2030... Needs Reconsideration"

FKI and Monoresearch Survey Top 500 Manufacturing Companies
56% Say 'Corporate Competitiveness Will Decline' if Targets Are Maintained
"Emission Reduction Burden in Industrial Sector Must Be Eased"

[Provided by the Federation of Korean Industries]

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Yeju] A survey has revealed a low likelihood of achieving the 'Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) 2030' announced by the government in October last year. The current target is considered excessively high for the domestic industrial sector, leading to calls for a revision of the target to ease the burden on companies to reduce carbon emissions.

According to a survey conducted by the Federation of Korean Industries on the 7th, commissioned to the polling agency Monoresearch, targeting the top 500 manufacturing companies, 48.0% of respondents assessed the feasibility of achieving the NDC 2030 as low (18.0% very low, 30.0% low).

If the current target is maintained, 56.0% of respondents said that corporate competitiveness in 2030 would decline compared to now, while 33.0% expected it to remain at the current level. Only 3.0% believed competitiveness would improve compared to the current level.

When asked whether they had established specific carbon reduction figures to achieve NDC 2030, 67.0% of companies answered that they had established or planned to establish them (23.0% established, 44.0% planned), while 33.0% responded that they had not.

There was also a gap between the appropriate reduction level perceived by companies and the target. When asked about the appropriate carbon reduction level by 2030 compared to 2018, the most common response was a reduction of 0-10% (37.0%), followed by a 10-20% reduction (24.0%) and maintaining the previous level of 26.3% (19.0%). The average appropriate reduction level was 15.8%, which is 24.2 percentage points lower than the government's target of 40% set in October 2021.

Regarding the current carbon neutrality scenario, 82.0% of respondents said a review is necessary (23.0% full review, 59.0% partial review). In contrast, only 6.0% said the existing scenario should be maintained.

The main issues with the set NDC 2030 target were ▲insufficient consideration of current carbon reduction technology levels (38.0%), ▲lack of consultation with the industrial sector (29.0%), ▲insufficient consideration of domestic industrial structure (16.0%), and ▲inevitable production contraction (14.0%).

As for the industries expected to be most affected, the steel sector was highest at 38.0%, followed by petrochemical at 23.0%, and energy and power generation at 17.0%.

Regarding improvements needed for the NDC 2030 target, the highest response was easing the burden of emission reductions in the industrial sector (36.0%), followed by reviewing the power mix including increasing the share of nuclear power (25.0%), lowering the NDC 2030 target (23.0%), and adjusting the target timeline (e.g., 2030 → 2040, 2050 → 2060) at 13%.

A Federation of Korean Industries official stated, "Since the feasibility of achieving the 2030 power mix, including the coal share (41.9% in 2018 → 21.8% in 2030) and renewable energy share (6.2% in 2018 → 30.2% in 2030), is evaluated as low, a realistic energy mix policy should be established by increasing the share of nuclear power during the energy transition period."

Meanwhile, the support measures companies need to reduce carbon emissions included ▲revitalizing the emissions trading market through improvements to the greenhouse gas emissions trading system (25.8%), ▲financial support for low-carbon facility construction (22.2%), ▲support for carbon reduction technology R&D (21.1%), ▲activation of support for renewable energy and hydrogen companies (21.1%), and ▲support for export companies facing carbon tariffs (8.2%).

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.