South Korea said Wednesday that it will strengthen vehicle emissions control by 2020 in order to meet global standards for greenhouse gas reduction targets.
The Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy will lower the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions target to 97g/km for the 2016-2020 period, from the 140g/km target for the 2012-2015 span.
In terms of fuel consumption, the 2020 target is equivalent to 24.3 kilometers per liter, compared with the 17 kmpl standard five years ago.
The new targets are comparable with Europe's 2021 target of 91g/km and Japan's 100g/km, according to the ministries.
A car manufacturer must comply with either CO2 emissions or fuel economy standards by 2020.
The plan came as the country earlier postponed the introduction of a vehicle carbon emission tax by 2020 on strong protests by the automotive industry but promised to tighten the average vehicle emission and fuel efficiency standards to similar levels as in Europe and Japan.
The Seoul government said the tightened criteria will help cut greenhouse gas by 16.4 million tons from the 2020 business-as-usual (BAU) levels. (Yonhap)
