[Exclusive] Regressive Climate Policy... Fine Dust Reduction Budget Cut by 17.6 Billion Won

Budget Cut for Workplace Fine Dust Management Project
Reduced from 66.5 Billion KRW to 48.9 Billion KRW This Year
Key Air Quality Policies Also Affected by Sound Fiscal Policy
Criticism Over Years of Underutilized Budget

The budget for managing and reducing fine dust emissions from workplaces has been confirmed to be cut by as much as 26% next year. Although it is considered a key policy for improving air quality, it could not escape the government's sound fiscal policy stance. The project, which once involved a large-scale financial input amounting to several hundred billion won, is also criticized for undergoing expenditure restructuring due to improper budget utilization.

According to the 'Workplace Fine Dust Management Project Explanation Materials' submitted by the Ministry of Environment to the office of Park Hong-bae, a member of the National Assembly's Environment and Labor Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, the government has set the budget for this project at 48.953 billion won for next year. This is a decrease of 17.638 billion won (26.5%) from this year's 66.591 billion won.

The Workplace Fine Dust Management Project is a policy that manages and supervises air pollutants and fine dust from companies nationwide and encourages their reduction. It started in 2005 and is regarded as a core policy of the air environment preservation program. Under the Yoon Seok-yeol administration, the fine dust improvement project was also selected as a national agenda.

The Ministry of Environment, the competent authority, also held the position that the budget should be sufficiently allocated. Through departmental requests, the Ministry asked the Ministry of Economy and Finance, stating that it is a "project related to the implementation of national agendas, the comprehensive plan for air environment improvement, and the basic plan for air environment management," and requested that "the project budget for the smooth promotion of workplace fine dust reduction and the implementation of national agendas needs to be actively reflected."

However, it could not avoid the government's strong fiscal soundness improvement policy. While preparing next year's budget, the government simultaneously carried out a high-intensity expenditure restructuring worth 24 trillion won. This marks the third consecutive year of restructuring in the 20 trillion won range. Each ministry also independently cut projects with low effectiveness or poor execution rates.

There is also an analysis that the Ministry of Environment failed to properly use the budget for several years. In 2021 alone, the budget for this project was as large as 507.1 billion won. However, there was much criticism regarding poor execution. Last year, the National Assembly's Environment and Labor Committee pointed out that the project's actual execution rate was poor and that unused funds occurred annually due to mid-term withdrawal by workplaces, urging the consideration of alternatives. The 2022 National Assembly Budget and Accounts Committee also recommended setting a budget at a level that could be executed.

This budget cut is expected to inevitably cause setbacks in air management policies. Among the detailed projects, the 'Support for Installation of Prevention Facilities in Small-scale Workplaces' project took a direct hit. The government has supported fine dust prevention facilities for small businesses that find it difficult to spend money on pollution emission management. Various studies have shown that this support significantly contributes to lowering nearby dust concentrations, earning high evaluations for its effectiveness. This year, 726 businesses received support, but next year, the number of supported targets will be reduced by more than half to 300.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The Ministry of Environment plans to support businesses with high effectiveness first, as the budget cut requires reducing the number of supported projects. A Ministry of Environment official explained, "There is also a natural decrease in the budget as the volume of replacing old facilities has been resolved," adding, "Although the emission scale of small businesses is small, there may be inconveniences to residents, so we will prioritize support for businesses where pollution is concentrated, such as industrial complexes, or those with complaints."

Criticism has also emerged that a rapid reduction in the project budget could have adverse effects on fine dust reduction policies. Representative Park said, "Despite the Workplace Fine Dust Management Project being a national agenda directly related to the health of the people, its budget was drastically cut," emphasizing, "We will ensure that the environment-related budget can be restored during the regular National Assembly discussions."