SEOUL, September 18 (AJP) - South Korea must commit to a long-term pathway to reduce carbon emissions now that it is set to launch a new ministry integrating energy, climate, and environmental functions, said a leading climate scientist.
"The most urgent task for the ministry would be to finalize the 2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC)," said Axel Timmermann, director of the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) Center for Climate Physics at Pusan National University, in an interview with AJP.
The government must have eyes on the future and design long-term climate policy for the world children will face 20 to 30 years from now," he said.
He welcomed the new government’s plan to reorganize the Environment Ministry as the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment, which would take over energy policymaking from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE).
"When energy policy is under MOTIE, growth and industrial competitiveness are the main priorities. But if a ministry dedicated to climate and environment also manages energy, it can focus more on the next generation and long-term sustainability," he said, urging concrete implementation plans, including a carbon tax and carbon tax dividends.
Timmermann, a world-renowned climate physicist who trained under 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics laureate Klaus Hasselmann, has headed the IBS Center for Climate Physics since 2017.
The Institute for Basic Science (IBS) is Korea’s most prestigious national research institute dedicated to basic science, headquartered in the science hub city of Daejeon’s Sin-dong research complex. His team in Busan uses supercomputer models and cave-based climate records to study Earth’s variability and make long-term projections.
In explaining the extreme heat wave this year, he pointed to the country’s dense urbanization. "A large share of South Korea’s population lives in metropolitan areas such as Seoul and Gyeonggi Province, and in these cities the so-called urban heat island effect—where concrete and asphalt trap heat and make cities hotter than surrounding rural areas—intensifies the impact of heat waves," Timmermann said.
"Concrete surfaces block natural cooling from evaporation, while the lack of vegetation makes the heat feel even more severe."
The summer was the hottest on record, with the mercury averaging 25.7 degrees Celsius between June and August, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA).
But Koreans should get used to the intense heat as a new norm, the scientist said. "There will be year-to-year variability, so some summers will be hotter and some cooler. But the long-term trend points to increasingly extreme summers," he added, calling for a joint inter-Korean response to common challenges from shared climate conditions.
In his first year in Korea, he explored the possibility of joint research with North Korea, but abandoned the idea due to the complex approval procedures amid zero inter-Korean ties and sanctions related to Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs.
The North has also been grappling with the fallout from extreme weather such as heat waves, droughts and floods. "I believe scientific cooperation across borders is essential and beneficial."
"Science has no borders. When we think about the betterment and efficiency of scientific research, there’s every reason for greater collaboration with others," he added.
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