Alternative energies such as solar and wind power are not clean energy and have environmental destruction factors in themselves.

President Lee Jae-myung recently visited Jeju Island and stated, "Jeju has the potential to be at the forefront of realizing carbon neutrality based on clean energy sources like solar and wind power," vowing to transform Jeju into an "Island of Energy Transition" leading South Korea's carbon neutrality efforts.  

He also argued that relying on fossil fuels poses significant future risks and that all energy sources must be rapidly shifted to renewable energy.  

Energy Policy Going Against the Global Trend

The Lee Jae-myung administration is pushing to establish a Ministry of Climate and Energy, increase renewable energy budgets, and amend the Carbon Neutrality Basic Act to compel local governments to secure factory sites for expanding renewable energy supply.  

Going beyond the Moon Jae-in administration, which declared a 40% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 compared to 2018 along with a nuclear phase-out policy, the Lee Jae-myung administration aims to reduce carbon emissions by 53% by 2030 and has committed to halting coal power generation by 2040 by joining the Powering Past Coal Alliance at the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties.

The Lee Jae-myung administration's policies of phasing out nuclear power and halting coal power generation are moving in the opposite direction of the energy policy trends currently pursued by countries like the United States, China, and Europe.  

These nations are currently making desperate efforts to secure energy in response to the surge in oil prices due to the Ukraine-Iran war and the explosive electricity demand of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) era.  

Europe, which had been pursuing a nuclear phase-out policy, is now feeling threatened in its energy security after the supply of Russian oil and natural gas became unstable following the outbreak of the Ukraine war. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has acknowledged that Europe's nuclear phase-out policy was a strategic mistake, and various European countries are announcing plans to prioritize new nuclear power plant construction as a national strategy and expedite their construction.  

However, South Korea's world-class nuclear technology and construction ecosystem, painstakingly developed over decades, are facing collapse due to the nuclear phase-out policies of the Moon Jae-in and Lee Jae-myung administrations.  

The renewable energy-centric policies pursued by the Moon Jae-in and Lee Jae-myung administrations to combat global warming are based on restricting fossil fuels through initiatives like RE100 (100% renewable energy use by 2050) and the emissions trading system. However, these policies significantly diminish the competitiveness of businesses and the nation in the era of AI, which is experiencing explosive growth in electricity demand.

Alternative energies such as solar and wind power are not clean energy and possess inherent environmental destruction factors. Furthermore, their power generation is unstable due to weather dependency, and their production output is not economically viable relative to investment. Without government subsidies, they lack competitiveness and represent a waste of taxpayer money.  

While efforts to develop more efficient and sustainable alternative energy sources are necessary, the policies of left-leaning governments that restrict the use of nuclear power and fossil fuels based on current incomplete renewable energy technologies are problematic.  

Climate Crisis: A Forced Logic Based on Flawed Hypothesis

The climate crisis caused by increased carbon dioxide is a forced logic based on a flawed hypothesis. Climate policies built upon this risk undermining the competitiveness of businesses and the nation, potentially destroying South Korea's future.

The theories of global warming and climate crisis driven by increased carbon dioxide are a fraud perpetrated by the global left, which has infiltrated China, the US Democratic Party, and the UN, and is being echoed by an ignorant right-wing that fails to study the facts.

The Earth, estimated to be 4.6 billion years old, has undergone countless changes, including climate fluctuations, volcanic activity, and tectonic shifts that have transformed oceans into land and submerged continents. It has cycled through ice ages, interglacial periods, minor ice ages, and warm periods, with numerous species of animals and plants emerging and going extinct repeatedly.  

Climate change is the evolutionary process of Earth as a living organism. [Source: Natural History Museum, London]  

These changes, much like the birth and death of stars and planets in the infinite universe, are part of the evolutionary process of Earth as a living entity, orbiting and rotating around the sun. The ultimate source of Earth's energy is the sun, and life on Earth cannot exist without it. Furthermore, Earth's climate is influenced by the sun.  

The hypothesis that a minuscule amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere causes a greenhouse effect and raises global temperatures is practically impossible and a manipulation targeting an uninformed public.  

Climate change is a result of various forms of solar and Earth's own vital activities, such as volcanic eruptions, tectonic shifts, earthquakes and floods, solar sunspot activity, underwater volcanic activity and lava flows, and ocean currents (cold and warm currents) driven by convection.  

Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Concentration is Merely 0.04%, with Little Impact on Earth

Contrary to the claims of climate crisis proponents who worry about global warming, there have been many instances where global temperatures have fallen even during periods of increased carbon dioxide since the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century.  

Diagnosing a climate crisis based on the current atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration of 400 ppm, up from approximately 300 ppm before the Industrial Revolution, after hundreds of years, is shortsighted. Such a change in carbon dioxide concentration is a very minor fluctuation within the long cycles of Earth's history.  

Over 98% of the Earth's carbon dioxide is dissolved in seawater, with less than 2% present in the atmosphere. The most significant greenhouse effect on Earth is caused by clouds, not by the negligible amount of carbon dioxide.  

The oceans, covering 70% of the Earth's surface, play a crucial role in maintaining a moderate global temperature. When the Earth warms, seawater evaporates, forming clouds that block sunlight. As clouds decrease, temperatures rise again, in a repeating cycle.  

This temperature regulation is a fine-tuning process, and Earth's cycles of ice ages, interglacial periods, minor ice ages, and warm periods depend on the sun's influence, Earth's axial tilt, its orbital parameters, and geological events like tectonic shifts and volcanic activity.  

During the early 20th-century global warming period, when temperatures were higher than today, the carbon dioxide concentration was around 300 ppm, lower than the current 400 ppm. This indicates no correlation between the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide and temperature.  

Over 99% of Earth's atmosphere consists of oxygen and nitrogen, with carbon dioxide making up only 0.04%. Most of this minuscule amount of carbon dioxide is naturally present, having evaporated from seawater. Carbon dioxide produced by humans accounts for only about 3% of the total atmospheric carbon dioxide.  

The Earth's greenhouse effect is primarily driven by vast clouds formed from water vapor, not by the insignificant amount of carbon dioxide.  

Approximately 65 million years ago, during the Mesozoic Era when dinosaurs roamed, the carbon dioxide concentration was around 3000 ppm. At that time, large dinosaurs required abundant vegetation to survive, necessitating a significant supply of carbon dioxide for photosynthesis.  

Dinosaurs went extinct due to a lack of food caused by insufficient sunlight for plant photosynthesis, resulting from massive dust and clouds formed by events such as planetary impacts, volcanic eruptions, or tectonic shifts.  

Even at a carbon dioxide concentration of 3000 ppm, there were no survival issues for dinosaurs and other animals and plants. The atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration on Earth is a product of its own evolutionary processes, and the notion that humans can alter it is a result of arrogance and ignorance.  

An increase in carbon dioxide signifies vigorous photosynthetic activity in plants, leading to an abundance of food for animals. Without carbon dioxide, plants cannot survive, and without plants, animals also disappear.  

Numerous studies show that increased carbon dioxide levels lead to higher crop yields. The current carbon dioxide concentration of around 400 ppm is an outdoor measurement; indoors, due to respiration, it can exceed 1000 ppm. Even at over 5000 ppm of carbon dioxide, it poses no harm to humans if there is sufficient oxygen in the atmosphere.  

Humans Cannot Control Earth's Climate Change

The idea that humans, who cannot even control typhoons, earthquakes, or floods, can control Earth's climate change is unconvincing. Typhoons, earthquakes, and floods are not climate anomalies but phenomena that have occurred since Earth's creation and will continue to occur.  

If current typhoons, earthquakes, and floods are considered climate anomalies and a climate crisis, what then were continental shifts, uplift, and the Great Flood described in the Bible?  

Historical records from Korea and around the world contain numerous accounts of great floods, severe cold spells, heatwaves, wildfires, and extreme weather events. Even during the Joseon Dynasty, when there was no use of fossil fuels and the carbon dioxide concentration was around 300 ppm, there are many records of droughts and floods.  

Climate change is an evolutionary process of Earth's life forms and is unrelated to carbon dioxide. Observing the current increase in solar sunspot activity and the severe winters occurring globally, it is time to worry about an approaching minor ice age, similar to the cooling periods of the 1960s and 1970s.

The claim that melting Arctic and Antarctic ice will cause sea levels to rise and inundate coastal areas is propaganda.  

Arctic ice melts not due to carbon dioxide but during periods of regular inflow of warm North Atlantic currents. Beyond the annual cycle of melting in summer and expansion in winter, Arctic ice decreased during the early 20th-century global warming period, surged dramatically during the late 20th-century cooling period, and has been decreasing again with the onset of global warming in the 21st century.  

Antarctic ice is formed by snowfall, with more ice accumulating than is lost due to melting from ocean currents, volcanic activity, and geothermal heat, leading to an overall increase in Antarctic ice mass. The decrease and increase in Arctic and Antarctic ice are unrelated to carbon dioxide.  

Historical records show Viking settlements in Greenland, which is currently covered by ice and uninhabitable. During the Medieval Warm Period (10th to 13th centuries), when temperatures were about 2°C higher than today, Vikings migrated to Greenland and lived there for centuries, but they left during the 14th-century Little Ice Age.  

At that time, the carbon dioxide concentration in Greenland was around 300 ppm. The fluctuations in Antarctic, Arctic, and Greenland ice are part of Earth's cycles of ice ages, interglacial periods, minor ice ages, and warm periods, and are geological phenomena unrelated to carbon dioxide.  

Earth repeatedly goes through ice ages and interglacial periods, with temperatures rising and falling. When temperatures rise, more seawater evaporates, releasing dissolved carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. It is not the increase in carbon dioxide that causes temperatures to rise, but rather that temperatures rise due to Earth's geological processes, leading to an increase in carbon dioxide afterward.  

Regarding the claim of submersion due to sea-level rise, Tuvalu, a Pacific island, has actually seen its land area increase in recent decades. While some areas globally are experiencing sea-level rise, many others are experiencing sea-level fall. This is influenced by the uplift and subsidence of the Earth's crust, not by carbon dioxide or global warming.  

Concerning coral bleaching, there are reports from the Australian government indicating that the Great Barrier Reef coral reef system is thriving.  

The climate crisis theory is a product of the environmentalism of the global left, which rejects technological innovation through capitalism and the market economy and instead adheres to Marxism-Leninism, in collaboration with China. Despite a sharp increase in fossil fuel use after World War II, Earth experienced a cooling period in the 1960s and 1970s.  

Al Gore's 'An Inconvenient Truth' is a Fraud Itself

Al Gore's book and documentary "An Inconvenient Truth," which earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007, is a manipulated work and a fraud that omits the cooling period of the late 20th century (1960s-1970s) and the Medieval Warm Period and Little Ice Age.  

It is propaganda that ignores scientific evidence showing that during the past three interglacial periods, Earth's temperatures were higher than today, yet carbon dioxide concentrations were lower.  

The environmental doomsday prophecies prevalent in the 1960s and 1970s warned of an existential threat to humanity due to declining food production and a growing population caused by global cooling. After the doomsday prophecies faded, the UN introduced the concept of a catastrophe caused by global warming in the 1990s.  

Under the leadership of Canadian socialist Maurice Strong, the first environmental summit, the Rio Earth Summit, was held in 1992, adopting the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Maurice Strong resided in Beijing after his retirement until his death in 2015.  

The current UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, who emphasizes the climate crisis and encourages investment in renewable energy, is a former leader of the Portuguese Socialist Party and the Socialist International. Alternative energy sources like solar, wind, and electric vehicles, which lack self-sufficiency without government subsidies, are predominantly dominated by China in the global market.  

This is because development and production are difficult in a free democratic market economy without subsidies. However, China remains the world's largest carbon emitter and continues to increase its coal-fired power generation capacity. This is why former US President Donald Trump stated that the "climate change crisis theory is a Chinese fraud."  

Despite scientific counterarguments that there is no evidence that greenhouse gas emissions cause global warming, the politicized UN decided to reduce greenhouse gases by 5.2% below 1990 levels in the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.  

Following the inauguration of Democratic President Obama in 2009, the United States signed the Paris Agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In 2017, Republican President Donald Trump criticized global warming as "the greatest hoax ever perpetrated by the left" and withdrew from the Paris Agreement.  

Despite the 2021 White House Climate Report stating that the loss of glaciers in Alaska's glacier bays was a natural phenomenon concentrated in the 18th and 19th centuries, not the 20th century when fossil fuel use rapidly increased, Democratic President Biden rejoined the Paris Agreement upon taking office in 2021. Republican President Trump, upon his re-inauguration in 2025, will withdraw from the Paris Agreement again.  

The Trump administration in the United States announced in January that the US would withdraw from the Green Climate Fund (GCF), headquartered in Songdo, Incheon, defining the GCF as a radical leftist organization that supports developing countries in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to climate change. The announcement stated that the GCF "conflicts with the US goal of a cheap and stable energy supply."  

The carbon neutrality policy of the Lee Jae-myung administration is based on fabricated propaganda, falsified claims, and hypotheses that the increase in carbon dioxide causes global warming. This policy will undermine the competitiveness of businesses and the nation, degrade the quality of life for citizens, and ruin South Korea's future.  

◆ Hwang Doo-hyong  

Former Washington Correspondent, Yonhap News Agency

Former Deputy Director, Editorial Bureau, Yonhap News Agency