European Green Deal: EU and Republic of Korea launch Green Partnership to deepen cooperation on climate action, clean energy and environmental protection

Today, the EU and the Republic of Korea have established a Green Partnership with the aim of strengthening bilateral cooperation and exchanging best practices on climate action, clean and fair energy transition, protection of the environment, and other fields of the green transition. The Green Partnership was launched in Seoul during the EU-Korea Summit by Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, and Korean President, Yoon Suk Yeol. Both parties reaffirm with this Partnership their commitment to keep global temperature rise below 1.5°C and reach climate neutrality by 2050 at the latest. Additionally, both sides reiterated their commitment to their respective 2030 targets for greenhouse gas emission reductions.

President von der Leyen said: “The EU and the Republic of Korea share the ambition of a climate-neutral future. The launch of our Green Partnership will help us towards that goal. We will now work on the convergence in key areas, and deepen cooperation on strategic, clean energy projects. Because it is good for our supply chains, good for our competitiveness and good for the planet.”

The EU-Korea Green Partnership will focus on several priority areas:

• strengthening efforts on combating climate change, including cooperation on climate adaptation, carbon pricing, methane emissions and climate finance;
• increasing cooperation on environmental issues with a focus on halting and reversing biodiversity loss, forest degradation and deforestation, promoting circular economy and addressing the full life cycle of plastics, as well as the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework;
• supporting a clean and fair energy transition by intensifying cooperation on renewable energies, energy efficiency, renewable and low-carbon hydrogen, a just transition away from unabated coal-fired power generation, batteries and green mobility and Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS);
• working with third countries to facilitate their green transition, notably in the area of climate change mitigation, adaptation and resilience, the clean and fair energy transition, and circular economy;
• joining forces in other areas such as business cooperation, sustainable finance, research & innovation, sustainable food systems, sustainability and resilience of our supply chains as well as employment and the social dimension of the green transition.

In line with the priority areas of their Green Partnership, the EU and the Republic of Korea have also agreed to promote climate action on the international stage, in multilateral and plurilateral fora, notably as major donors of climate finance and as facilitators of a just transition in third countries. The two parties will cooperate to support developing countries and emerging economies with their implementation of climate and environment policies.

Background

Green Partnerships are set up as bilateral frameworks to enhance dialogue and cooperation with key EU partners. It is a comprehensive form of bilateral engagement established under the European Green Deal. The first Green Partnership was established with Morocco ahead of COP 27 in October 2022.