Comparative Analysis of the 2030 GHG Reduction Target for Eleven Major Countries and Its Implications

주요국의 2030 온실가스 감축목표에 대한 비교분석과 시사점

The Paris Agreement, adopted in 2015, requires global mitigation actions by all countries, whether they are developed or developing countries. All member countries prepared and communicated a greenhouse gas reduction target, formally called the Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC). There has been some concern regarding whether the INDCs communicated are sufficient to achieve the emissions reduction needed to hold the increase in global temperature to $2^{\circ}C$ above pre-industrial levels. How to address this emissions gap in an equitable and fair manner remains controversial. Beginning in the year 2023, global stocktaking under the Paris Agreement will be performed by the Conference of the Parties to assess progress towards temperature goals. The present study, based on various composite indicators reflecting equity, fairness, ability and efficiency, analyzed the GHG reduction targets of eleven major countries and the ambitiousness of these targets. Employing share indicators and comparative ratio indicators (resulting in eight composite indicators), this study showed that when share indicators are applied, Korea's appropriate reduction requirement rate is relatively low at 1~2%. However, when comparative ratio indicators are applied, Korea's appropriate reduction requirement rate increases dramatically to 6~11%. In a similar vein, when share indicators are applied, Korea's 2030 target is very ambitious compared to other countries, while the opposite is seen with comparative ratio indicators. This strongly suggests that Korea needs to apply more share indicators than comparative ratio indicators when discussing the equitable and ambitious role of Korea in the climate debate.