South Korea: Greenhouse-Gas Emissions

Why this matters

In 2023, South Korea emitted 657 MtCO₂e of greenhouse gases (EU EDGAR v8.0, excluding land use). Energy was the single largest source at 44% of the national total, and carbon dioxide the dominant gas at 87%. Per-capita emissions of 12.63 tCO₂e per person normalise across population size, useful for cross-country comparison but distinct from a country's absolute climate footprint. Within East Asia & Pacific (12 tracked economies), it ranks #5 for per-capita emissions. Among high income economies (25 tracked), it ranks #9 per person. Source: EU EDGAR v8.0 (2024); per-capita and cohort ranks derived from EDGAR totals and World Bank region/income-group classifications.

Absolute totals like South Korea's show where the largest cuts to the global atmospheric budget are physically possible; per-capita figures are the fairer basis for comparing responsibility across countries of very different population size; emission intensity per unit of GDP (0.38 t per $1K) shows how efficiently the economy converts output into emissions. South Korea's transition path follows from its sector mix - an economy led by energy faces different policy levers than one dominated by agricultural methane or industrial process emissions.