Korea-EU Cooperation on Energy Transition: Current Status, Motivations and Challenges

Abstract

The Russia-Ukraine conflict has intensified the global energy security crisis. As economies highly dependent on energy imports, the EU and South Korea are jointly facing the dual pressures of ensuring energy supply and meeting climate goals. In 2023, the two sides formally established a "Green Partnership," becoming the world's first transcontinental strategic alliance for green transition covering the entire clean energy industrial chain. This paper systematically examines the progress of Korea-EU cooperation in areas such as clean energy technologies, supply chain resilience, and international standard-setting, and analyzes the internal drivers of their cooperation, which lie in similar policy and institutional foundations, complementary technology and industrial structures, and shared opportunities for green economic development. However, the cooperation is also constrained by multiple factors: South Korea's domestic policies are prone to vacillation due to party turnover, weakening policy continuity; the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism and localization requirements have increased compliance costs for Korean companies; and geopolitical pressures such as the Sino-US rivalry have triggered risks of restructuring critical mineral supply chains. The progress and dilemmas of the Korea-EU Green Partnership provide a reference for understanding the cooperation logic of middle powers in the global energy transition.