“Just a few months ago, South Korean officials were busy boasting about extreme net zero targets. Fast forward to April 2026, and the country is scrambling to secure every vessel load of oil and natural gas available on the global market.“

By Vijay Jayaraj

Last November, the Presidential Commission on Carbon Neutrality and Green Growth formalized its 2035 Nationally Determined Contribution, pledging a sweeping 53–61% cut in greenhouse gas emissions from 2018 levels (742 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent).
The anti-fossil fuel lobby hailed this as proof of Asia’s fourth-largest economy decoupling growth from fossil fuels, an energy source that is often maligned as “poison” and relics of an unsustainable past.