KCCI-MOE 'Corporate Environmental Policy Council'
17 out of 35 Corporate Demand Improvement Tasks Accepted
"15% Ratio Adjustment Not Possible... To Be Applied from Next Year"
Starting next year, the government, which decided to cancel emission allowances if domestic business sites reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by only 15% of the government allocation, has decided not to apply this retroactively. The reporting system for new chemical substances under 1 ton, which requires cumbersome procedures each time the weight exceeds the three thresholds of 10kg, 100kg, and 1 ton, will also be simplified.
On the 12th, the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) held a 'Corporate Environmental Policy Council' with the Ministry of Environment at the KCCI building in Jung-gu, Seoul, and announced that the Ministry of Environment accepted 17 out of 35 environmental regulatory improvement tasks requested by companies. The council is a forum where the public and private sectors discuss environmental policy directions and industry issues together, held annually since 1998. Attendees included Lee Byung-hwa, Vice Minister of Environment and co-chair of the council, Park Il-jun, Executive Vice Chairman of KCCI, as well as corporate executives such as Choi Kwang-moon, Vice President of SK Hynix, Jin Young-joo, Managing Director of POSCO, and Park In-cheol, Managing Director of Lotte Chemical.
The 17 regulations that the Ministry of Environment agreed to improve at the council include ▲simplification of the new chemical substance change reporting system ▲recognition of printed circuit board (PCB) crushed and ground products as recycled resources ▲relaxation of restrictions on the carryover of greenhouse gas emission allowances (from three times net sales to five times) ▲and easing of strengthened criteria for cancellation of greenhouse gas emission allowances.
In particular, companies strongly requested the relaxation of the cancellation criteria for greenhouse gas emission allowances (from 50% to 15%). The Ministry of Environment had previously strengthened the cancellation criteria due to the 'windfall controversy,' where companies made profits by selling emission allowances when greenhouse gas emissions sharply decreased due to natural disasters. A representative case was POSCO, which, due to Typhoon Hinnamnor in 2022, was unable to operate some factories for 135 days, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by about 5 million tons, and earned approximately 30 billion won in profits by selling the remaining emission allowances from the government allocation.
Major steel companies reportedly requested changing the 15% threshold to 30% at the council. The Ministry of Environment decided not to accept the adjustment of the ratio but withdrew the principle of retroactively applying this year's allocation. The cancellation application will take effect from next year.
The Ministry of Environment also accepted the IT industry's request to recognize valuable metals such as gold and copper contained in PCBs as recycled resources.
Vice Minister Lee Byung-hwa said, "We will continue communication to ensure that environmental regulations disconnected from the field do not cause difficulties for companies, and will promote regulatory innovation and a paradigm shift in environmental policy." Executive Vice Chairman Park Il-jun said, "KCCI will continue close cooperation with the Ministry of Environment so that our industry can maintain global competitiveness while moving in an environmentally friendly direction."
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