South Korea’s President Calls for Swift Shift to Renewable Energy Amid Fossil Fuel Crisis
Published · Updated · 4 min read
President Lee Jae-myung has issued an urgent call for South Korea to abandon its dependence on imported fossil fuels and move rapidly toward renewable energy. His warning comes as a geopolitical crisis in the Middle East threatens the country’s energy supply and economy.
“Relying on fossil energy is extremely dangerous for the future,” Lee said. “We do not produce these resources ourselves, and chasing imports has led to the current crisis.”
A Country Built on Borrowed Energy
South Korea imports approximately 84 percent of its total primary energy supply. Nearly all of its fossil fuels come from abroad, with around 70 percent of crude oil and 20 percent of natural gas sourced from the Middle East.
Most of that energy travels through a single route: the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s ongoing blockade of the waterway has created an immediate supply shock that has rattled the country’s policy establishment.
Higher oil prices are pushing up electricity, transport, and factory costs. For an economy driven by energy-intensive industries like semiconductors, steel, and shipbuilding, the damage is spreading fast.
South Korea has no backup options. Surrounded by sea and sharing a closed border with North Korea, the country cannot tap into emergency energy-sharing networks that many other nations rely on.
The Scale of the Problem
Industry accounts for roughly half of South Korea’s total electricity demand, much of it powered by imported coal and natural gas.
The semiconductor sector alone is a critical pressure point. Samsung and SK Hynix together dominate global memory chip production, supplying the infrastructure behind artificial intelligence and cloud computing. Any sustained energy disruption threatens not just South Korea but global technology supply chains.
The current crisis has forced the government to confront what analysts describe as a structural vulnerability years in the making.
Renewables Lag Behind Peers
Despite years of policy effort, renewable energy makes up only about 10.8 percent of South Korea’s electricity generation as of 2025, the lowest share among OECD member countries.
The government has now set a target to increase renewable capacity from 37 gigawatts to roughly 100 gigawatts by 2030. Offshore wind capacity is targeted to grow more than tenfold, from 0.35 gigawatts to 4 gigawatts over the same period.
Complex permitting rules, grid limitations, and outdated market systems have slowed progress. Onshore wind, despite strong natural resources, has added only 0.1 gigawatts per year due to regulatory bottlenecks.
Money Moving Into Clean Energy
The Lee administration has committed 1.1 trillion won in renewable energy loans and subsidies through a supplementary budget, described as a record investment level.
That includes 120 billion won for solar power and 100 billion won for wind energy. A separate initiative will provide 25 billion won to help 100,000 households install rooftop solar panels.
A letter of intent was also signed with Vena Group, a BlackRock subsidiary, committing 20 trillion won (approximately $14 billion) in renewable energy and AI data center investments. The portfolio covers offshore and onshore wind, large-scale solar, battery storage, and green hydrogen projects.
Grid Overhaul and Transport Shift
The government has proposed an “Energy Expressway” as a national infrastructure project, including 20 gigawatts of offshore wind transmission along the west coast by 2030 and a peninsula-wide offshore grid network by 2040.
Plans also include 2.3 gigawatts of energy storage systems by 2029 and AI-based grid management tools to handle variable renewable output.
On transportation, Lee has set a target of 100 percent electric vehicle purchases for new cars by 2035. Electric vehicle subsidies rose 20 percent for 2026, reaching 936 billion won. The government has also pledged over 15 trillion won in support for automakers transitioning away from combustion engines.
Jobs and Economic Stakes
Research tied to South Korea’s coal power regions suggests the shift could deliver major economic gains. In South Chungcheong Province alone, renewable energy scenarios project up to 1.08 million cumulative jobs by 2050, compared to just 29,000 from gas-fired power generation.
Renewable energy value-add is projected to reach up to 52 percent of the region’s GDP, versus 3 percent from gas generation.
Balancing Crisis and Transition
The administration has also taken short-term steps that complicate its clean energy goals. The government restarted several nuclear reactors ahead of schedule and has considered increasing coal generation if natural gas supplies tighten further.
Price caps on gasoline and diesel have been imposed to shield consumers, but these measures drain fiscal resources that could otherwise fund social programs central to Lee’s broader agenda.
The government has also moved to secure additional crude oil from the United Arab Emirates and is pursuing supply deals in Africa and Central Asia to reduce Middle Eastern dependence.
South Korea’s long-term energy plans call for phasing out coal-fired power by 2040 and lifting renewables to 40 percent of generation by 2035. Whether the urgency in the president’s words translates into sustained action will shape not just the country’s energy future, but its position in the global clean energy economy.
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