South Korea said Tuesday eco-friendly cars, including electric models, accounted for 71 percent of the total vehicles purchased by public organizations last year, as the country continued its efforts to go carbon neutral by 2050.

The country's 609 public organizations purchased 7,736 automobiles in 2020, of which 5,494 were eco-friendly models, according to the government data.

Eco-friendly models include electric, hydrogen fuel cell and hybrid cars.

The survey was based on public organizations that own six or more cars and that made new purchases in 2020.

In a separate survey on a total of 1,538 public organizations, eco-friendly cars accounted for 16 percent of their fleet of 120,000 cars in 2020.

Since 2016, South Korea has been requiring state organizations to have green models account for a designated proportion of their newly purchased automobiles.

The proportion, which came to 80 percent in 2021, will gradually increase to 100 percent by 2023.

South Korea announced last year it will effectively reduce its emissions of carbon to zero by 2050 by cutting its use of fossil fuels. (Yonhap)