[2021 Budget] Ministry of Environment's 11 Trillion KRW 'Green New Deal'... Largest Ever Scale

Next Year's Ministry of Environment Budget Set at 11.0777 Trillion Won
Accounts for 56% of Total Green New Deal Budget of 8 Trillion Won
Accelerating Carbon Neutrality with Future Cars, Smart Green Cities, etc.
Continued Investment in Tap Water Safety and Fine Dust Reduction

Visitors attending the 2020 Hydrogen Mobility+ Show held at KINTEX in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, are examining a cross-section of the Hyundai hydrogen electric vehicle Nexo.
Goyang - Photo by Kim Hyunmin kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] The Ministry of Environment, the main government agency responsible for the 'Green New Deal' policy, has recorded an unprecedented budget of 11 trillion won for next year. More than half of the Green New Deal budget (4.5 trillion won) is included in the Ministry of Environment's budget.

On the 1st, the government held a Cabinet meeting and finalized the total expenditure of the Ministry of Environment's budget and funds for 2021 at 11.0777 trillion won.

Next year's Ministry of Environment budget is 10.0735 trillion won, an increase of 1.5036 trillion won (17.5%) compared to the previous year, and the fund plan is 1.0042 trillion won, up 34.8 billion won (3.6%), marking the largest scale ever.

The Ministry of Environment's Green New Deal budget for next year is set at 4.5 trillion won, accounting for more than half (about 56%) of the government's total Green New Deal budget of 8 trillion won.

The goal is to accelerate the transition to a carbon-neutral society by fully implementing projects such as the distribution of green mobility including electric and hydrogen vehicles (future cars), smart green cities, green convergence clusters, and restoration of urban damaged areas.

First, to distribute 1.33 million future cars by 2025, next year will focus on the distribution of electric vehicles and the establishment of charging infrastructure. 1.112 trillion won will be invested in electric vehicle distribution and charging infrastructure, and 440.8 billion won in hydrogen vehicle distribution.

Lee Byung-hwa, Policy Planning Officer of the Ministry of Environment, stated, "In 2022, it is expected that one out of ten new car buyers will choose a future car, and by 2025, one out of five will choose a future car, marking the full-scale launch of the so-called 'future car popularization era.'"

In particular, efforts will be made to distribute various types of vehicles such as buses, taxis, freight vehicles, and delivery motorcycles. The plan is to distribute 75,000 electric passenger cars, 25,000 electric freight vehicles, 1,000 electric buses, 15,000 hydrogen passenger cars, 5 hydrogen freight vehicles, and 180 hydrogen buses.

Continuous investment will also be made in early scrapping of old diesel vehicles to reduce fine dust, and conversion of freight vehicles and children's school buses to liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), aiming to achieve zero old diesel vehicles (zero vehicles without low-emission measures) by 2024.

Officials are collecting samples at the activated carbon adsorption chamber of the Ttukdo Arisu Water Purification Center in Seongdong-gu, Seoul. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

The LPG vehicle conversion support project will support 135,000 1-ton livelihood freight vehicles and 88,000 children's school buses from next year until 2025. Next year, 30 billion won will be spent to support 20,000 freight vehicles and 12,000 children's school buses.

The Smart Green City project (52.6 billion won), which supports strengthening urban climate resilience, will be fully implemented in 25 regions nationwide. The project includes greenhouse gas reduction and water circulation improvement for climate resilience, establishment of eco-friendly vehicle charging and resource circulation infrastructure for low emissions.

The target regions will start applications this month and finalize selection in December. A total of 290.7 billion won (174.9 billion won in national funds) will be invested in the selected regions by 2022 to provide customized solutions.

Among the five leading green convergence cluster fields, the establishment of thermal energy, clean air, and bio-material clusters, which started through this year's supplementary budget, will also be fully activated from next year.

The thermal energy cluster (supply scale 16,500 RT) is planned to be established in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province by 2027. This year, a pilot project was launched through the supplementary budget to promote early adoption of thermal energy. The pilot project budget will increase from 2 billion won in this year's supplementary budget to 5.2 billion won next year. The pilot projects are underway at the Hangang Flood Control Office, Incheon Comprehensive Environmental Research Complex, and Hangang Water Environment Research Institute in Yangpyeong, Gyeonggi Province.

Budgets of 14.6 billion won and 5.7 billion won have been allocated for the establishment of clean air industry clusters and bio-material propagation clusters, respectively. These are expected to contribute to innovation and competitiveness in related green industries and create local jobs.

In addition, tailored support will be strengthened for fostering green industries, including eco-startup support (11.25 billion won), innovative equipment and commercialization support (49.5 billion won), and green innovation company support (35.47 billion won).

Next year, urban ecological corridor restoration projects (11.6 billion won) that allow enjoying natural ecological services within cities will be newly implemented in six locations.

Through the core protection area conservation project of national parks (55 billion won), efforts will be made to preserve national parks representing Korea's nature and ecosystems and promote sustainable use.

Furthermore, a total of 141.1 billion won will be invested from next year until 2022 to prevent incidents like the recent 'tap water larvae incident' in Incheon. Next year, 26.2 billion won has been newly allocated. This will block larvae inflow and occurrence in 100 water treatment plants across 60 local governments and strengthen hygiene management.

The Ministry of Environment will accelerate the improvement of aging facilities such as local waterworks (461.5 billion won) by advancing the original completion schedule from 2028 to 2024.

Also, by 2022, a smart pipeline management system will be established in all 161 local waterworks nationwide (452.6 billion won). The smart pipeline management system uses technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) to automatically monitor water quantity and quality, detect leaks in real time, and respond promptly to supply clean tap water.

A budget of 236.8 billion won has been allocated to respond to disasters caused by climate crises such as monsoons and heavy rains. This will enable proactive and rapid flood forecasting by automating flood prediction.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

In the waste sector, to stabilize the recycled materials market, two more recycled material stockpiling warehouses will be added next year, operating a total of six. The budget for next year is 26 billion won.

To reduce single-use items, a new budget of 440 million won has been allocated for supporting the establishment of a 'collection-washing-reuse' system for reusable packaging and tableware.

15 billion won will be invested in preparing for the construction of a national wide-area public waste treatment facility, and 2.3 billion won will be spent on building one energy convergence treatment facility and three biogas hydrogenation facilities.

In particular, the energy convergence waste treatment facility is planned not just as a waste treatment facility but as a local landmark by sharing profits with residents and linking with convenience facilities such as shopping malls.

In the air environment sector, efforts to protect public health will continue through fine dust measurement and monitoring using advanced equipment and focused management of fine dust vulnerable areas.

From next year, the budget for operating the environmental satellite ground station (8.3 billion won) has been expanded to enable real-time analysis of fine dust generation and movement routes using fine dust information received from the Chollian Satellite 2B.

A total of 17.4 billion won will be invested in introducing next-generation remote monitoring equipment such as unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) and unmanned airships, and 192 billion won will be spent supporting IoT attachment for small-scale workplaces to track fine dust emission sources in three dimensions.

Additionally, a new budget of 3 billion won has been allocated for focused management of fine dust vulnerable areas, including the creation of fine dust shelters and installation of air curtains.

The budget plan for next year is expected to be finalized by December 2 after going through the National Assembly review process.