KCCI and Ministry of Environment Discuss Improvement of Unreasonable Environmental Regulations

Acceptance of Measures Including Introduction of Flexibility System for Total Air Emission Allowance for Factory Expansion

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Hyung-gil] The Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) announced on the 30th that it held a Corporate Environmental Policy Council meeting at the KCCI building in Seoul in cooperation with the Ministry of Environment.

The council meeting was attended by co-chairmen Woo Tae-hee, Executive Vice President of KCCI, and Yoo Je-cheol, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Environment, as well as Yoon Seok-hyun, Executive Director of Hyundai Motor Company, Kim Jong-hwa, Executive Director of SK Innovation, and Kim Yeon-seop, Executive Director of Lotte Chemical.

At the meeting, companies made proposals related to environmental policies, and the Ministry of Environment expressed willingness to accept some of the proposals.

Manufacturing company A stated, "When expanding or establishing new factories, a total allowable air emission quota is required, but if the regional air emission quota under the Air Quality Management Zone Act is insufficient, additional allocation cannot be obtained, making expansion or new establishment impossible," and requested, "Please prepare a method to allow additional allocation of the total quota."

The Ministry of Environment responded, "Since last year, we have been reviewing the introduction of flexible systems such as additional allocation, borrowing, and offsetting, and related bills have been proposed. We will do our best to ensure their prompt passage in the National Assembly."

Refining company B requested, "In cases where flare stacks, which are waste gas incineration facilities, cannot operate due to emergencies such as power outages, fires, or equipment failures, it is difficult to normally comply with emission standards, so please prepare a method to exclude such cases from administrative sanctions." The Ministry of Environment stated, "If the relevant business site submits an improvement plan to the regional or local environmental office, we will consider excluding administrative sanctions."

During the subsequent discussion, industry proposals included ▲allowing the trading of total allowable air emission quotas between business sites located in adjacent zones of the same company ▲excluding indirect emissions from the calculation and reduction obligations under the emissions trading system ▲preparing incentive measures to reduce packaging materials for online delivery ▲unifying the self-measurement cycle of air pollutants between the Environmental Pollution Facilities Act and the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading System guidelines, and the Ministry of Environment decided to review these further.

Vice President Woo Tae-hee said, "Many companies recognize the importance of carbon neutrality and are responding, but there are still many regulations that hinder the promotion of concrete projects," adding, "Active government support centered on incentives is necessary so that companies can maintain competitiveness while proactively responding to carbon neutrality."

Vice Minister Yoo Je-cheol said, "The global trend toward carbon neutrality is creating a socio-economic transformation, and finance and companies are also being required to play new roles within this trend," adding, "Companies should actively respond to new market creation such as the circular economy and utilize it as an opportunity."

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