Ministry of Environment Signs 600 Billion KRW Environmental Investment Agreement with 6 Petrochemical Companies Including SK and LG

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] The Ministry of Environment signed a voluntary agreement on the 26th to invest 600 billion KRW over four years with six petrochemical companies to reduce environmental pollutants.

The six companies participating in the agreement are SK General Chemical, LG Chemical, Lotte Chemical, Hanwha Total, Yeochun NCC, and Daehan Petrochemical. These companies operate naphtha cracking plants, which are the root facilities of the petrochemical industry. These facilities account for about 51% of the air pollutant emissions from the 78 petrochemical plants subject to integrated environmental permits.

With the completion of environmental facility investments by 2023 under this agreement, the air pollutant emissions from these companies are expected to be reduced by 11,131 tons (35%), and the overall reduction in the petrochemical industry is anticipated to be about 18%.

The main points of the voluntary agreement are as follows.

Petrochemical plants required to complete integrated environmental permits by 2021 will apply for permits by the end of this year to transition early to an integrated environmental management system. The Ministry of Environment will provide administrative and technical support to these companies.

The integrated environmental permit system consolidates dispersed environmental permits for air, water, and waste into one, setting customized permit standards that reflect the characteristics and environmental impacts of the industry. It has been applied gradually by industry since 2017, with the petrochemical industry subject to it from 2018 and required to obtain integrated permits by 2021.

The companies in the agreement plan to invest a total of 595.1 billion KRW over four years until 2023 to improve processes and expand facilities to reduce environmental pollution as part of the transition to the integrated environmental management system.

The companies will focus 455.1 billion KRW (76.5% of total investment) on facility improvements to reduce air pollutants such as nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons, which cause fine dust and ozone.

Additionally, they will invest 140 billion KRW (23.5%) to reduce wastewater discharge, improve energy efficiency, and expand automatic stack monitoring devices, aiming to enhance environmental management systems at each plant.

These agreement plants have the world's fourth-largest petrochemical production scale (annual ethylene production of 9.81 million tons), and with this investment, environmental management levels are expected to improve, further strengthening international competitiveness.

The Ministry of Environment plans to verify the effectiveness of the integrated environmental management plans submitted by the companies, including through environmental expert reviewers.

Kim Dong-gu, Director of Environmental Economic Policy at the Ministry of Environment, said, "It is significant in many ways that these companies decided on bold environmental facility investments despite the economic downturn following the recent COVID-19 pandemic," adding, "We will maximize the investment effects of companies through integrated environmental permits."

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