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Korea's greenhouse gases rise to highest levels ever, prompting climate concerns

Published: 29 Apr. 2026, 15:55 Updated: 29 Apr. 2026, 18:18

Environmental activists call on the government to increase use of renewable energy in Jongno District, central Seoul, on April 23. [NEWS1]

Korea's atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration rose to its highest level last year, adding to concerns that the country is falling behind in its response to climate change despite repeated government pledges to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

The average atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration in the country reached 432.7 parts per million (ppm) in 2025, the highest since observations began in 1999, according to the 2025 Global Atmosphere Watch Report released Wednesday by the National Institute of Meteorological Sciences.

The figure was also higher than the global average of 425.6 ppm last year.

The rise in domestic atmospheric carbon dioxide outpaced the increase worldwide. While the average global concentration rose by 2.8 ppm from the previous year, Korea’s increased by 3.2 ppm. Likewise, the global concentration rose by an average of 2.3 ppm per year from 2000 to 2025, compared to 2.5 ppm in Korea in the same period.

The findings underscore the gap between Korea’s climate ambitions and its actual progress.

Korea ranked 63rd out of 67 countries in the Climate Change Performance Index report released in November.

The report said Korea needed to focus less on setting targets and more on implementation, pointing to its low share of renewable energy generation and an oversupply of emissions allowances under its carbon trading system.

Other greenhouse gases also reached record levels in Korea last year. The average concentration of nitrous oxide in the country’s atmosphere rose to 340.6 parts per billion (ppb), up 1.2 ppb from a year earlier, while the level of sulfur hexafluoride increased by 0.3 parts per trillion (ppt) to 12.5 ppt. Both were higher than global averages.

Sulfur hexafluoride is considered especially dangerous because it does not breakdown easily once released into the atmosphere.

The green, red and yellow lines in this graph show atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations worldwide, in East Asia and on the Korean Peninsula as observed by the Japanese Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite (Gosat) from 2008 to the end of 2025, while the top blue line represents atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations as measured at the ground station on Anmyeon Island during the same period. [NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF METEOROLOGICAL SCIENCES]

Temperatures are also rising alongside the buildup of greenhouse gases. Korea’s average annual temperature stood at 13.5 degrees Celsius (56.3 degrees Fahrenheit) last year, 1.4 degrees higher than the 1973-1999 average of 12.1 degrees.

However, the country also achieved some improvements.

Concentrations of chlorofluorocarbons (CFC), which damage the ozone layer and accelerate warming by increasing infrared light absorption, continued to fall. Domestic levels of CFC-11 and CFC-12 dropped by 4.8 ppt and 3.1 ppt from a year earlier, leading to a recovery in the ozone layer, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA).

Atmospheric concentration of methane — which has a greenhouse effect 27.9 times stronger than carbon dioxide — also hit a record high of 2,023 ppb last year, but the pace of increase slowed sharply to only 2 ppb last year, well below the average annual increase of 10 ppb from 2015 to 2024.

The KMA said the slowdown in some greenhouse gases may reflect the impact of policy measures, including the worldwide ban on CFCs implemented in 2010 under the 1989 Montreal Protocol.

“Methane also has a much shorter atmospheric lifetime than carbon dioxide, so the effects of policy-driven reductions can appear relatively quickly,” said Kim Sang-baek, head of the Global Atmosphere Watch Research Division at the National Institute of Meteorological Sciences. “We are conducting a more detailed analysis of the factors behind the slowdown in its growth.”

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY HEO JEONG-WON [[email protected]]