Hankyung Association: "Korea-UK Must Strengthen Cooperation on Carbon-Free Energy for Carbon Neutrality"

South Korea and the United Kingdom have called for strengthened cooperation in carbon-free energy sectors such as nuclear power, wind power, and hydrogen, coinciding with President Yoon Suk-yeol's state visit to the UK.

On the 27th, the Korea Economic Association, in a report titled 'Measures to Expand Korea-UK Economic Cooperation' commissioned to the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade, stated that both South Korea and the UK are actively utilizing nuclear power as a means of energy security and carbon neutrality, making cooperation in the nuclear sector feasible. While South Korea holds advanced competitiveness in nuclear power design, construction, and equipment manufacturing, the UK has a weak domestic nuclear industry base. Therefore, it proposed accelerating negotiations for exporting large domestic nuclear power plants to the UK to capture the rapidly growing UK nuclear market. It also mentioned that mutual benefits could be expected through Korea-UK cooperation in early market entry and technology development in the small modular reactor (SMR) and 4th generation advanced modular reactor (AMR) sectors.

The report also suggested that domestic wind power manufacturers enter the UK market. The UK's wind power industry has strengths in engineering, site development, construction, and operation but lacks domestic wind power equipment and component manufacturing. Conversely, South Korea is competitive in manufacturing offshore wind towers and substructures. Since the UK government is actively encouraging investment and participation from foreign companies to achieve its offshore wind dissemination goals, domestic manufacturers should enter the UK market to build business performance and use it as a foothold to enter the global offshore wind market, including Europe.

South Korea has strengths in hydrogen utilization sectors such as fuel cells and hydrogen vehicles, while the UK excels in hydrogen production. Therefore, through complementary cooperation, the hydrogen industry supply chain can also be strengthened. Additionally, since the UK is proactive in promoting nuclear power and hydrogen, it is necessary to encourage the UK government and major companies to participate in the Carbon Free Alliance (CF Alliance). The report assessed that "if the UK participates, it will greatly help in forming international consensus and expanding the CF Alliance in the future."

Choo Kwang-ho, head of the Economic and Industrial Division at the Korea Economic Association, said, “The UK, one of the most proactive countries in reducing greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, is utilizing various carbon-free energy sources to effectively respond to the rising energy security crisis while achieving carbon neutrality goals.” He added, “We must strengthen Korea-UK economic cooperation in the carbon-free energy sector to lead the climate change agenda and jointly respond to the energy security crisis.”

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