10th Annual United States – Republic of Korea (ROK) Energy Security Dialogue

The United States and the Republic of Korea (ROK) held the 10th U.S.-ROK Energy Security Dialogue (ESD) at the Baker Institute at Rice University on April 29-May 1, 2024, in Houston Texas. 

U.S. Department of State Assistant Secretary for Energy Resources Geoffrey Pyatt met with the ROK Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Affairs Kim Hee-sang to deepen cooperation to strengthen our collective energy security, accelerate the clean energy transition, and develop diverse, resilient, and sustainable clean energy supply chains. 

Houston, home to many of the world’s most innovative energy companies, will serve as the center of operations for the Gulf Coast Hydrogen Hub, one of seven regional clean hydrogen hubs selected by the Department of Energy in the United States. Holding the ESD in Houston highlighted the positive role innovative private sector companies play in driving the energy transition in the United States, the ROK, and the Indo-Pacific.

Russia’s recent attacks against Ukraine’s electricity and natural gas systems are a direct assault on Ukraine’s peaceful citizens and exacerbate the ongoing humanitarian crisis. The United States welcomes the ROK as a new and important member of the G7+ Energy Coordination Group, one of the thematic subgroups of the Multi-agency Donor Coordination Platform (MDCP), which will play a critical role in restoring and maintaining Ukraine’s energy resiliency.  The two nations underscored the need to continue to make efforts to reduce dependency on Russian energy. 

The United States and the ROK recognized that the climate crisis represents the existential challenge of our time and committed to even stronger efforts to keep 1.5 degree C warming within reach, including through developing ambitious energy sector policies and targets as well as 2035 nationally determined contributions. Both countries recognized that achieving the goals of the Paris agreement will require rapid global deployment of renewable and nuclear energy this decade. 

The United States and the ROK jointly acknowledge the importance of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 while ensuring energy security. Both countries are committed to accelerating the deployment of current, emerging, and new carbon-free technologies, including renewables, nuclear power, low carbon and renewable hydrogen and its derivatives such as ammonia, and carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS).

The ROK and the United States recognized the need to achieve energy security and decarbonization throughout the world. The two countries stressed that it is essential for governments and the private sector to work together to accelerate emissions reductions this decade. Both countries reiterated their commitment to implementing the Global Methane Pledge (GMP), including the need for consumers and producers of fossil fuels to minimize methane and CO2 emissions from the entire fossil fuel value chain in line with limiting warming to 1.5 degrees C. The United States and the ROK reaffirmed their commitment to ongoing efforts with the European Commission and fifteen other countries to develop a consensus-based approach for the measurement, monitoring, reporting and verification of greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels.

As outlined during the historic 2023 Camp David trilateral summit, the ROK and the United States affirm the importance of supporting sustainable energy and promoting climate resilience across the Indo-Pacific, including through capacity building in ASEAN and the Pacific.

Both countries emphasized the importance of rapidly decarbonizing their economies, through the deployment of clean energy, zero-emission vehicles, and energy efficiency measures. The ROK and the United States stressed the importance of deploying clean energy technologies to enhance energy security through greater energy self-sufficiency and the importance of strengthening and diversifying critical minerals and clean energy supply chains. The ROK and the United States committed to continued close collaboration on the responsible development of critical minerals supply chains through the Minerals Security Partnership (MSP) and the MSP Forum. The U.S and ROK also both recognized the need to utilize private sector demand for clean energy to spur investment and drive clean energy deployment, including by supporting policies which foster an enabling environment for corporate clean energy procurement.

The United States and the ROK discussed opportunities for enhanced collaboration on clean energy technologies, including offshore wind, to take advantage of their respective generation potentials and achieve ambitious deployment targets. The ROK and the United States discussed ways to increase policy and industry collaboration to create an enabling policy and regulatory environment to encourage investment in this sector.

The two countries discussed the role of clean hydrogen and its derivatives in the energy transition, notably to decarbonize hard-to-abate sectors in industry and transportation. Both countries stressed the importance of collaboration on regulatory frameworks and standards, including methodologies to measure the carbon intensity of hydrogen production through the International Partnership for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells in the Economy (IPHE) and other forums. They expressed the hope that respective investments in clean energy technologies will drive down costs, helping other nations go further and faster in building their own clean energy economies.

Both sides agreed on the great value of the ESD, especially productive discussions with private sector participants and look forward to convening again at a senior level in 2025.