A citizen walks at a riverside park in Yeouido in western Seoul on March 11, 2021, as South Korea issued a fine dust advisory. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, March 16 (Korea Bizwire) — The volume of fine dust emissions created in the transport and power generation sector is expected to decline dramatically over the next 20 years.
According to a report from the Korea Energy Economics Institute, the volume of fine dust emissions generated by the domestic transport sector is forecast to decline by 80.5 percent to 1,813 tons in 2040 from 9,322 tons in 2017.
The report suggested that the transport sector would contribute to about 90 percent of the total reduction in fine dust emissions.
In the transport sector, the primary factor for such a reduction would be the massive decrease in the number of diesel vehicles.
At present, diesel cars account for 98 percent of the fine dust generated by road transport pollutants.
In 2040, the number of diesel cars is forecast to decline by more than 1 million compared to 2017 levels, due to the early scrapping of aged diesel vehicles and the steady growth in the price of diesel fuel.
The biggest factor for the reduction of fine dust emissions in the power generation sector is coal-powered plants. The amount of fine dust generated by coal-powered plants is expected to decline by 943 tons to 2,003 tons in 2040 from 2,946 tons in 2017.
J. S. Shin (js_shin@koreabizwire.com)
