This country note features selected environmental indicators from the OECD Core Set, building on harmonised datasets available on OECD Data Explorer. The indicators reflect major environmental issues, including climate, air quality, freshwater resources, waste and the circular economy, and biodiversity. Differences with national data sources can occur due to delays in data treatment and publication, or due to different national definitions and measurement methods. The OECD is working with countries and other international organisations to further improve the indicators and the underlying data.
Environment at a Glance: Korea
Korea has a relatively large export-oriented economy, poorly endowed with natural resources. The economy is based on a strong industrial sector, dominated by conglomerates. Manufacturing and energy-intensive industries, such as electronics, transport equipment (automotive, shipbuilding), chemicals, iron and steel, are predominant. GDP has grown more rapidly than in most other countries and since 2020, Korea’s GDP per person surpassed the OECD averaged level. Korea is among the world’s most densely populated countries.
Korea is a relatively small, mountainous peninsula with over 3 200 islands and total land area of about 100 000 km2. Surrounded by three seas, it has a temperate climate with wide variations in temperature and rainfall. The peninsula is largely divided into highland in the east and lowland in the west. Mountains covered with forests occupy about 64% of the territory, leaving limited areas for human settlement. Some 70% of the population is concentrated in urban areas, particularly in the north-east around the Seoul Metropolitan Area and along the coasts, leading to considerable regional disparities.
Forested mountains together with coasts provide an important habitat for Korea’s rich biodiversity. The country has no oil resources and very limited natural gas reserves; it produces small amounts of anthracite. Korea is very dependent on the import of energy and mineral resources.
Although Korea has reached a relative decoupling between GDP real growth, and energy use and production-based CO2 emissions, these have been generally increasing since 2000.
Korea’s per person production-based and demand-based (or footprint) greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have been fluctuating but generally increased until 2018. They started to decrease afterwards but remain are above the OECD average. Demand-based emissions are higher than production-based ones, meaning that Korea is a net importer of GHG emissions embodied in its final demand.
Energy industries and manufacturing constitute more than half of emissions, followed by transport. The land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) sector represent a small, and decreasing carbon sink.
Korea has negligible fossil-fuel resources and imports almost all of it. Including nuclear power, just 16% of the country’s energy needs are met from indigenous sources. It is the fifth net importer of natural gas in the world as well as the fifth-largest net importer of oil (OECD, 2023[1]).
Its energy mix is dominated by fossil fuels: while the share of oil has decreased since 2000, the shares of coal and natural gas have increased. With less than 3% of total energy supply in 2023, renewables play a minor role. The same is true for electricity production.
While emissions of sulfur oxide (SOx), nitrogen oxide NOx and non-methane volatile organic compound (NMVOC) have started to decrease in recent years, ammonia emissions are stabilising. Emission intensities, both per person and per GDP, remain below or close to the OECD average.
Korea, with one of the lowest renewable freshwater resources per person among OECD countries, is water-poor. The country therefore suffers from medium to high water stress, coupled with high per person abstractions.
Connection rates to wastewater treatment have improved since 2000, both in terms of total connection to treatment plants and of treatment levels. In 2023, over 94% of the population is connected to advanced (tertiary) treatment.
Korea’s per person municipal waste generation is below the OECD average, but has increased since 2000. Waste management has improved, landfilling being gradually replaced by recycling and incineration with energy recovery. Korea has the highest recycling rate among OECD countries.
Korea is one of the few OECD countries where per person domestic consumption (and material footprint) has increased since 2000. Material productivity has increased at about the same rate as the OECD averages, although it remains below.
Like many other OECD countries, the bulk of materials is made up of non-metallic minerals, though fossil carriers represent an important share, mostly due to the refining capacities in country.
Despite the relatively small size of the land, Korea benefits from diverse biotic resources and a beautiful natural environment due to unique geography which features the coexistence of forest and coastal ecosystems. Korea’s territory is mostly mountainous, with 64% of the land comprised of mountains surrounded by ocean on three sides, providing excellent conditions for the existence of rich biodiversity. The number of native species in the country is estimated to be higher than 100 000. Wetlands and tidal flats are habitats crucial to the formation of diverse and distinct characteristics of Korean species. Wetlands are important from the perspective of biodiversity in that they provide habitats for unique organisms, which evolve from environments different from those of terrestrial and aquatic organisms. However, with the gradual reduction in wetlands, diverse wetland species are threatened (CBD, 2022[2]).
Terrestrial protected areas are on par with the OECD average, but below the OECD-Asia-Oceania average. Marine protected areas are negligible. More efforts are needed to reach the 2030 GBF target of protecting 30% of terrestrial and inland water areas, and of marine and coastal areas.
This section shows selected policy instruments based on data available for most OECD countries and does not provide a complete overview of countries’ policy mix to achieve their environment-related objectives. Interpretation should consider the country specific context.
The bulk of support for the consumption of fossil fuels in Korea can be attributed to the tax exemptions for fuels used in the agriculture and fisheries sectors, although their value has decreased substantially. In answer to the global energy price crisis, the government implemented several measures to limit the rise in domestic retail energy price (OECD, 2023[1]).
In total, 98.5% of GHG emissions in Korea were subject to a positive Net Effective Carbon Rate (ECR) in 2023. Explicit carbon prices in Korea consist of emissions trading system (ETS) permit prices, which cover 80% of GHG emissions in CO2 eq. Fuel excise taxes, an implicit form of carbon pricing, cover 55.3% of emissions in 2023. Direct fossil fuel subsidies cover 1.1% of emissions. About 13% of GHG emissions have a Net ECR above EUR 60 per tonne of CO2 eq., a mid-range estimate of current carbon costs. Net ECRs are highest in the road transport sector, which accounts for 13.1% of the country's total GHG emissions. The Net ECR is on average zero in the agriculture & fisheries sector. The agriculture & fisheries sector accounts for 0.5% of GHG emissions (OECD, 2024[3])..
The share of environmentally-related government R&D budget has fluctuated since 2000 and is now on an increasing trend, at 3.17% in 2023. The share of renewables in public energy RD&D has been increasing until 2019 and has declined to 17.7% in 2023.
Korea is home to numerous environmentally-related inventions. Its per person inventions (of inventors residing in country) is the highest in the OECD. The share of environmentally-related in total inventions is also above the OECD average, and increasing.
Korea’s official development assistance (ODA) has been increasing over the past decade. Its development co-operation focuses on least developed countries (LDCs) and lower middle-income countries (LMICs) in Asia and Africa. Korea primarily provides ODA through bilateral co-operation, which includes both grants and concessional loans. Korea has one of the highest gross bilateral ODA shares of country programmable aid and ODA to LDCs among Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members. Korea’s total ODA increased in 2024 to USD 3.9 billion (preliminary data), representing 0.21% of gross national income (GNI).
In 2022-23, Korea committed 61.3% of its total bilateral allocable ODA in support of the environment and the Rio Conventions, up from 32.2% in 2020-21. The DAC average was 39% in 2022-23. Twenty-four per cent of screened bilateral allocable ODA focused on environmental issues as a principal objective, compared with the DAC average of 9.6%. Fifty-seven per cent of total bilateral allocable ODA focused on climate change overall, up from 25.6% in 2020-21 (the DAC average was 34.8%). Korea had a greater focus on adaptation (43%) than on mitigation (35.3%) in 2022-23. Seven per cent of screened bilateral allocable ODA focused on biodiversity overall, up from 4.7% in 2020-21 (the DAC average was 7.6%). Korea committed USD 305.5 million in support of the conservation and sustainable use of the ocean in 2023, USD 263.7 million more than in 2022. The 2023 value is equivalent to 6.5% of Korea’s bilateral allocable ODA (OECD, 2025[4]).
References
[2] CBD (2022), Country profiles: Korea, https://www.cbd.int/countries/profile?country=kr.
[4] OECD (2025), Development Co-operation Profiles, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/development-co-operation-profiles_04b376d7-en/korea_d358baed-en.html.
[3] OECD (2024), Pricing Greenhouse Gas Emissions 2024: Gearing Up to Bring Emissions Down, OECD Series on Carbon Pricing and Energy Taxation, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/b44c74e6-en.
[1] OECD (2023), OECD Inventory of Support Measures for Fossil Fuels: Country Notes, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/5a3efe65-en.
IEA (2020), Korea 2020 Energy Policy Review, IEA Energy Policy Reviews, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/2f15bd8f-en
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