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Han Wha-jin, Korea’s minister of environment, delivers an address at the COP27 summit in Egypt on Nov. 15. (courtesy of the Ministry of Environment)

The South Korean government has announced plans to provide an additional 3.6 billion (US$2.7 million) won in support over a three-year period to assist developing countries in adapting to climate change.

Its gesture comes as the 27th UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) — an occasion for the countries of the world to assemble and discuss the Earth’s shared future — draws to a close. But observers called the plan “severely inadequate” in light of South Korea’s top 10 global status as both a CO2 emissions source and an economic power.

At a COP27 high-level meeting on Tuesday in the Egyptian city of Sharm el-Sheikh, South Korean Minister of Environment Han Wha-jin pledged to “promote eco-friendly private investment to achieve cost-effective greenhouse gas reductions based on market economy [principles].”

She also said South Korea intends to “increase its green official development assistance (ODA) to above the OECD average by 2025.”

But Han devoted a large part of her speech simply to talking about South Korea’s current efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Even the “increased green ODA” that she mentioned was already announced in July 2021, while her speech included no specifics.

On Wednesday, the administration said it would be “contributing 1.2 billion won a year for three years to the Adaptation Fund for developing countries starting in 2023.”

Meanwhile, the UK’s plans for supporting eco-friendly growth in developing countries through 2025 include 1.5 billion pounds in funding, or triple the previous level. The US announced plans on Nov. 11 to spend US$150 million toward a climate adaptation fund for Africa. Germany pledged to contribute US$200 million to support swift response and recovery efforts by countries vulnerable to climate change.

The numbers show that South Korea’s support is paltry in comparison with its economic scale.

Ranking in the world’s top 10 for both economic scale and for annual CO2 emissions (as of 2020) and 17th for cumulative CO2 emissions, South Korea is in a position where it is being called upon by the international community to take responsibility for climate change. But critics say that it has been tight-fisted with its efforts to assist developing countries faced with climate crises.

“Even just looking at how absurdly low the amount is, you can see that this is a shallow ‘little bit of everything’ approach without any signs of genuineness,” said Hwang In-cheol, director of the Green Korea climate energy team.

“Having decreased the proportion of renewable energy sources since taking office, the administration most likely had nothing to show,” he suggested.

By Key Min-do, staff reporter; Kim Yoon-ju, staff reporter

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