Decomposition Analysis of CO₂ Emissions of the Electricity Generation Sector in Korea using a Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index Method

전력산업의 온실가스 배출요인 분석 및 감축 방안 연구

Electricity generation in Korea mainly depends on thermal power and nuclear power. Especially the coal power has led to the increase in $CO_2$ emissions. This paper intends to analyze the current status of $CO_2$ emissions from electricity generation in Korea during the period 1990~2016, and apply the logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) technique to find the nature of the factors influencing the changes in $CO_2$ emissions. The main results as follows: first, $CO_2$ emission from electricity generation has increased by $165.9MtCO_2$ during the period of analysis. Coal products is the main fuel type for thermal power generation, which accounts about 73% $CO_2$ emissions from electricity generation. Secondly, the increase of real GDP is the most important contributor to increase $CO_2$ emissions from electricity generation. The carbon intensity and the electricity intensity also affected the increase in $CO_2$ emission, but the energy intensity effect and the dependency of thermal power effect play the dominant role in decreasing $CO_2$ emissions.