Bilans d’évènement • Comités
FKCCI Energy Committee Highlights Opportunities Amid Korea’s Shifting Energy Landscape
Three long-awaited energy laws passed in early 2025, on offshore wind, nuclear waste storage, and electric grid modernization, sending a clear signal: Korea is serious about accelerating its energy transition. Against this backdrop, the FKCCI Energy Committee met on April 22nd, gathering 18 C-level executives from key French and Korean energy companies to unpack the implications of these changes and discuss market trends.
Chaired by Mr. Vincent Boulanger, CEO of EDF Renewables Korea and new President of the Committee, with the support of Benjamin Daudin, PMO & Finance Manager at BadaEnergy and Gilles Hild, Managing Director Energy Business Line at Veolia Korea, the session featured a keynote by Mrs. Marie Hatier, Nuclear Advisor and Head of Energy & New Technologies at the French Embassy to Korea. She presented a comprehensive overview of Korea’s electricity mix, still dominated by coal (55%) and increasingly pressured by rising industrial demand. While installed renewable capacity is growing, Mrs. Hatier stressed the need for a stronger decarbonized base and highlighted how current electricity pricing structures disincentivize cleaner solutions.
Participants exchanged views on Korea’s 2050 carbon neutrality goal and discussed the potential implications on the energy sector of the upcoming Korean election in May 2025 and a second Trump presidency. While former President Yoon’s 2030 energy roadmap targeted 40 percent renewable energy and carbon neutrality by 2050, with a renewed emphasis on nuclear power and continued support for hydrogen, solar, and offshore wind, the upcoming elections could put this vision at risk.
The roundtable underscored Korea’s need for foreign expertise, particularly in decommissioning, waste treatment, energy efficiency and offshore technologies; areas where France has strong capabilities. While policy signals are improving, several structural bottlenecks remain, including outdated grids and industrial resistance to decarbonization.
The Committee concluded on a cautiously optimistic note: with nuclear energy set to play a major role in the future mix, offshore wind on a strong growth trajectory, and hydrogen gaining momentum, Korea’s transition is clearly gaining ground, backed by firm government support and growing industrial engagement.
About the Energy Committee
The France-Korea Energy Committee is led by Mr. Vincent BOULANGER, CEO of EDF Renewables Korea, and coordinated by Mr. Sangmin KIM, General Secretary of the Committee and Business Project Manager at the FKCCI.
For any inquiry on the work of the committee, please contact s.kim(@)fkcci.com.
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