Korea approves its 2035 target: an emissions reduction of 53–61% relative to 2018

The Cabinet of South Korea approved on 11 November 2025 a new climate target for 2035: a net reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of 53–61% relative to the 2018 level. According to Climate Action Tracker (CAT), the target was announced at the COP30 summit in Belém. This corresponds – according to CAT – to emissions in 2035 of 304–364 MtCO₂e (excluding LULUCF), i.e. from 8% below to 10% above the 1990 level.

Two thresholds

The lower threshold, 53%, is the target around which the government intends to build regulation – including the emissions trading system (K-ETS). According to Asia Economy, the government decided that this lower target would be the basis for allocation in K-ETS, because industry had voiced concerns: it considered the reduction targets too high and burdensome, given that emissions reduction technologies are not yet fully commercialised. The higher threshold, 61%, is to be achieved through non-regulatory measures, such as increasing the supply of zero-emission energy and transforming industry towards low-carbon sectors with higher added value.

Sectors

For industry the emissions reduction target in 2035 is 24.3–31.0%. According to ICAP, the K-ETS allocation plan for 2026–2030, approved on the same day, assumes that the power, transport, buildings and waste sectors will cut emissions by more than 50% by 2035 relative to 2018, and the power sector by 69–75%. We found no detailed targets for agriculture.

International credits

CAT notes that NDC 2035 expresses an intention to use international carbon credits but does not specify their scope, so the share of domestic reductions in the target remains unclear. For the previous NDC for 2030 (40% below the 2018 level), CAT estimated the domestic target (excluding LULUCF and credits) at 504 MtCO₂e and the full target at 470 MtCO₂e.

Biogas and methane

Korean sectoral methane targets were not the subject of our verification, but the direction of policy is visible: the act on biogas production from organic waste and the ban on direct landfilling of municipal waste in the Seoul metropolitan area from 2026 are tools that indirectly support methane reduction (separate articles). For biogas producers this is a long-term signal: climate policy will require emissions reductions in the waste and agriculture sectors.