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Employment opportunities from a coal-to-renewables transition in South Korea

In this brief, explore the direct employment impacts of a coal-to-renewable transition in South Korea in line with a Paris compatible coal phase out before 2030. Compare this with the projected outcomes under current policies. In this work, assess the direct employment effects at the national and provincial level for two scenarios focusing on coal in the power sector: a Current Policies scenario (CPol scenario) that follows South Korea’s 9th Basic Plan for Electricity Demand and Supply, which lays out its planned capacity for its power sector, and a Coal-to-Renewables (and storage) transition scenario (CtR scenario), where coal is phased out from the electricity system by 2029 and replaced by renewables and storage. The provincial level analysis in this work could inform discussions on alternative local employment options to facilitate a just transition in South Korea.