End in Sight: How South Korea can force coal offline by 2028

In October 2020, President Moon Jae-in pledged to have South Korea achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. However, the country’s carbon-intensive power sector, with coal power accounting for approximately 40% of total electricity generation and a quarter of national emissions, remains a major obstacle to achieve this goal.

'End in Sight' finds the renewables rollout can be accelerated beyond current government plans, to reach 40% by 2028, and therefore, coal can be phased out earlier than planned.

Moreover, all coal power plants will be unprofitable before the end of their expected lifetimes even under current environmental policies and power market regulations.