Emissions Trading Mechanism to Mitigate Climate Change? : A case study in the Korean Emissions Trading Scheme focusing on the political-economic context behind the implementation and the policy design of the scheme

This thesis investigates the political-economic context that underlies the Korean Emissions Trading Scheme (KETS). The idea of trading carbon as a commodity in the carbon market has been embraced by many regions to reduce carbon emissions and to mitigate climate change. The government of South Korea has started to implement the emissions trading mechanism since 2015 to curtail the national greenhouse gas emissions and to keep pursuing economic growth at the same time. However, the national emissions of South Korea have been increasing in contrast to the anticipation of the government of South Korea. The unsuccessfulness of the KETS in reducing emissions induces the enquiry into the reason of the malfunction of the scheme. In this regard, the aim of this research is to reveal the relation between the political-economic context behind the KETS and the malfunction of the scheme in emanations curtailment by focusing on the process of the implementation and the policy design, such as emissions permit allocation system and flexibilities, of the scheme. The investigation has been carried out on the basis of a critique on green capitalism and carbon commodification to critically analyze and interpret the collected data. Through collecting and scrutinizing data from primary and secondary materials in the form of semi-structured interviews and the governmental documents of the KETS primarily, this research uncovers what political-context underlies and embedded in the KETS. In addition, this research reveals the connection between the political-economic context behind the process of designing the KETS and the outcome of emissions reduction