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During its 20 years as an OECD member country, Korea has shared many good practices with its peers. It has championed green growth at the OECD, as well as establishing the Global Green Growth Institute and hosting the Green Climate Fund. This third OECD Environmental PerformanceReview of Korea assesses the country’s progress in achieving its environmental policy objectives since the last review, carried out in 2006.
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Korea has been one of the fastest growing OECD economies over the past decade, driven by a large export-oriented manufacturing sector. However, this growth has come with high pollution and resource consumption. Although greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) have risen less quickly than GDP since 2000, they grew faster than in most other OECD countries and Korea became the fifth largest GHG emitter in the OECD. Its energy mix is dominated by fossil fuels and the share of renewables is the lowest in the OECD. Emissions of many air pollutants have been decoupled from economic growth but exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) is severe and the number of premature deaths caused by outdoor air pollution is projected to almost triple by 2060. Infrastructure development is putting considerable pressure on ecosystems and well-being varies widely between regions. Environmental challenges are exacerbated by the population density, which is the highest in the OECD.
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The Assessment and Recommendations present the main findings of the Environmental Performance Review of Korea and set forth 45 recommendations to help Korea make further progress towards its environmental policy objectives and international commitments. The OECD Working Party on Environmental Performance reviewed and approved the Assessment and Recommendations at its meeting on 8 November 2016. Actions taken to implement selected recommendations from the 2006 OECD Environmental Performance Review are summarised in the annex to the Assessment and Recommendations.
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