In the energy-climate change era, energy issues are directly related to the environmental issues such as CO2 emissions reduction as well as energy security. The cheap oil era as posed by the Peak Oil theory is over. Considering the huge demand of foss...
In the energy-climate change era, energy issues are directly related to the environmental issues such as CO2 emissions reduction as well as energy security. The cheap oil era as posed by the Peak Oil theory is over. Considering the huge demand of fossil fuels of the emerging economies such as China, counties which consume less energy, utilize efficiently, and set their economies free from addiction to fossil fuel as soon as possible would be taken to ensure the sustainability of communities.
Therefore, changes in the environment of energy policies mean that its paradigm should be switched to the demand side-driven energy strategy from the traditional supply side-driven one which emphasizes a stable supply of energy. The demand-side energy strategy should be focused on the efficient use of rare energy sources by using price function of resource allocation in the marketplace. In addition, market failures by environment and security issues can be compensated with adequate and resonable intervention of the government. By means of market forces, the energy intensive structure of Korean economy should be switched rapidly to the low carbon, green economy.
Since United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was adopted in 1992 and Kyoto Protocol came into effect in 2005, the climate change issue became the most important global agenda which needs to seek for the urgent solution. Both developed and developing countries are searching for various political measures to shift their economies to the low-carbon ones. Also they consider that energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions reduction are major agendas of their nations. Korea preemptively responded to global climate change issues by setting its national greenhouse gas reduction target which is to reduce greenhouse gas emission by 30% compared to Business-As-Usual(BAU) by 2020. The target is very challenging, considering that Korea is one of the countries which has most increasing amount of greenhouse gas emissions and its economy mainly consists of energy intensive industries such as steel and petrochemical sectors. The target is regarded as the most important thing among other national targets since its achievement will be a milestone for paving the way for a low-carbon economy and green society in the future. In this regard, the paradigm shift to 'energy and climate response policies' which could induce the attainment of energy security and greenhouse gas reduction at the same time is required urgently to achieve the national GHG emission reduction target.
This study was carried out on the purposes of review of policy measures and proposals to design a policy portfolio suitable to the reality of Korea. It reviewed external effects regarding distortions in energy prices, greenhouse reduction cost, and R&D investment. The survey was conducted, which deals with two questions: the usage of price function and the degree of stakeholder participation in existing and new polices as an analysis framework for effective management of external effects. The Questionnaire was sent to 50 middle or higher-level managers engaged in the energy sector, and 23(46%) were the response. The results of survey showed that energy policies could be classified into 12 regulation types, 8 market-friendly types, and 2 market types. By evaluating the effects of GHG emission reduction by the categorized policy groups, it constitutes the strategy portfolio presenting the possibility of achieving the national GHG reduction goals. To develop the scheme of portfolio, foreign policy cases were studied to systematically assess the effects of greenhouse gas reduction policies. With the effectiveness analysis of policies which are already imposed and/or to be imposed, it was found that policy paradigm should be transformed to achieve the cost effective results. The scope of this analysis is limited only for energy combustion sector, as the sector accounts for more than 80% of national greenhouse gas emissions and the policies are mostly focused on energy supply and efficiency improvement. The projection of greenhouse gas emission in this sector in 2020 will be around 646 million tCO2. To achieve the national reduction target, it is expected that 19.3%(125 million tCO2) of BAU should be reduced in the energy combustion sector.
According to the result of the analysis of portfolio effects, it is expected that 7.8%(51 million tCO2) of BAU can be reduced by the regulation type of policies. In case of the market-friendly type, 9.0%(58 million tCO2) reduction of BAU is expected. Therefore, if the both types applied in parallel, it can only reduce 16.8%(109 million tCO2) of BAU, and the remaining portion of 2.5%(16 million tCO2) to achieve the national reduction target in the sector should be reduced by additional strategic efforts. It means that the national GHG reduction goal cannot be achieved only through the regulation and market-friendly type policies. In the meantime, market conditions should be matured to switch the market-friendly type policy such as GHG-Energy target management system into the market-type ones such as the emission trading system. For the success of the market-type policy, it is important to ensure credibility on markets since market-type policies could be made possible in reality when the enterprise as a key player in a paradigm shift to the market -type strategy, can participate actively in energy conservation & efficiency, GHG emission reduction, and investment, and also opportunity of choosing the least cost by self-judgment can be provided.
In conclusion, the emission trading system and the carbon tax scheme must be introduced. These are already implemented in developed countries, such as EU. The emission trading system is a very effective measure to achieve the reduction target, but it requires high administrational costs for proper allocation of emission rights to companies and industries, development of the methodology and monitoring. The carbon tax scheme needs less administrational cost than the former. However, it includes some issues to be solved, such as tax resistance. An option of the hybrid scheme can be an alternative for the cost effective solution. For example, the emission trading system should be introduced in industrial and power generation sectors which have high potential of greenhouse gas reduction. At the same time, the carbon tax scheme can be introduced in transportation and building sectors. As technologies will be improved and the market will be expanded, the greenhouse gas reduction measures, such as energy efficiency and new and renewable energy diffusion will get higher economic feasibility, and also marginal cost of emission reduction for companies will be lowered. Therefore, in mid-term view, it will increase more and more the acceptance of companies to the emission trading scheme.
To enhance the specific validity and practicability of strategic portfolio aimed at achieving the national greenhouse gas reduction target, the public-private partnership is critical more than anything else. The political commitment and the policy consistency of the government will reduce the uncertainty about the future and development of green market, and increase private investments into green innovation and induce enthusiastic participations. Also private companies should take the burden as an opportunity to strengthen their competitiveness. In this political circumstances, the national greenhouse gas emissions will be reduced cost effectively by flexible adjustment of the market type, regulation type and market-friendly type of policies, and by development of the optimum policy portfolio to maximize the synergy effects. Also, it will deliver the fair cost sharing for each economic sector and bring the sustainable development to private companies.