Ministry of Environment: "First Reduction in Emissions After Implementing Emissions Trading Scheme... 12 Million Tons Decrease"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] The greenhouse gas emissions of about 600 companies subject to the emissions trading system decreased by approximately 12 million tons compared to the previous year. This reduction in greenhouse gas emissions is the first since the implementation of the emissions trading system in 2015.

The Ministry of Environment announced on the 14th that after analyzing the emission reports submitted by 611 companies subject to the greenhouse gas emissions trading system, last year's emissions amounted to 589.41 million tons, a decrease of 12.09 million tons (2%) from the previous year (601.5 million tons).

Since the emissions trading system began in 2015, this is the first time that total emissions have decreased compared to the previous year.

By industry, 10 sectors including power generation and display saw a decrease in emissions compared to the previous year, while 12 sectors including steel and refining experienced an increase.

The industry with the largest decrease in greenhouse gas emissions was the power generation and energy sector, which emitted 252.9 million tons, 21.69 million tons (-8.6%) less than in 2018. This is attributed to reduced operation rates of coal-fired power plants due to fine dust reduction measures and fuel switching to LNG and other sources.

On the other hand, the steel industry emitted 111.28 million tons of greenhouse gases, an increase of 7.5 million tons (7.1%) due to increased crude steel production.

Analyzing the surplus or shortage of emission allowances in the market, 206 companies were short by 20.38 million tons, but 397 companies secured an additional 28.69 million tons of allowances beyond their allocations. As a result, the market overall has a surplus of 8.32 million tons of emission allowances.

The submitted greenhouse gas emissions will be finalized by the end of August after conformity assessments and objections.

An Se-chang, Director of Climate Change Policy at the Ministry of Environment, said, "We will closely monitor the supply and demand situation of emission allowances before settlement and actively share supply and demand information with the market," adding, "We will support the stable operation of the trading market."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.