Impacts of New Town developments on carbon sinks: Implications from the Case of Seoul Metropolitan Area, Korea

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) ambitious goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 has been embraced by a variety of countries including South Korea. In South Korea, an increasingly vital neutrality strategy is enhancing carbon absorption through land use planning. A key consideration in these strategies is the comprehensive evaluation of carbon sinks present in various land cover categories. These carbon sinks—most notably forests, grasslands, and wetlands—play a critical role in mitigating the effects of climate change by locking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. However, forests and grasslands have long been prime avenues for new exurban development. This study analyzes the effects of large-scale development across several key carbon sinks for the Seoul Metropolitan Area of South Korea. Our findings indicate that the key carbon sinks increased from 2007 to 2021. Regardless, urban development has flourished where greenbelts were released, leading to significant depletion of forests, grasslands, and wetlands. However, converting farmland to New Town developments with massive park systems has contributed to an increase in carbon sinks in some parts of the region. In the perspective of South Korea’s goals for carbon neutrality, absorption is insufficient. Therefore, it is necessary to reflect the loss of sinks as a cost of sprawl and frame policies to expand storage through afforestation or reassessment of idle, undeveloped land.