1. Reason for proposal

  With the efforts of strengthening actions to reduce greenhouse gas and adapt to climate crisis for prevention of serious impact of climate crisis, resolve economic, environmental, social imbalances occurring in the process of implementing toward carbon-neutral society and promote harmonious development between economy and environment through fostering, encouraging and activating green technologies and green industries, the Framework Act on Carbon-Neutral and Green growth to Response to Climate Change was enacted under the purpose of raising the quality of life for current and future generations and conserving ecosystem and climate system, making its own contribution to the sustainable development of international society (Act no. 18469, announced on September 24, 2021 and implemented on March 25, 2022). Thereby, it is to specify matters delegated by the law as well as necessary matters to perform establishment of State’s Medium-Long term Targets for the Reduction of Greenhouse Gas, Basic Plan for State’s Carbon-Neutral and Green Growth, the Composition and Operation of 2050 Caron Neutral Green Growth Committee, Implementation of Assessment of Impacts of Climate Change, Establishment of National Climate Crisis Adaptation Actions, Designation of Special Zone of Just Transition, Fostering and Assistance for Green Technologies and Green Industries and Foundation and Operation of Climate Response Fund. 

2. Main Contents

A. Method and Procedure for establishment, revision and review current status of implementation of national strategy and national basic plan (from Article 2 and Article 6 to Article 12 of the Proposal) 

It sets procedure for establishment and revision of national strategy, national basic plan and plans of City, Do and Si, Gun, Gu and matters required to review methods on the current status of performance.

B. Establishment and management of State’s medium-long term target for greenhouse gas emission and review of current status of performance of greenhouse gas emission reduction target by each year (from Article 3 to Article 5 of the Proposal) 

  1) State’s medium-long term targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas emission in 2030 is to cut by 40% compared to the amount of greenhouse gas emission in 2008  

  2) Chairperson of the 2050 Caron Neutral Green Growth Committee shall annually review the current status of implementation of the target for the reduction of greenhouse gas emission each year, draft result report, bring it to the deliberation of the committee and disclose the result to the public.  

C. It prescribes matters required to the composition and operation of the 2050 Caron Neutral Green Growth Committee (from Article 14 to Article 20 of the Proposal)

  1) Minister of Education, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Interior and Safety, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Minister of Health and Welfare, Minister of Employment and Labor, Minister of Gender Equality and Family, Minister of Oceans and Fisheries, Minister of SMEs and Startups, Chairman of Korea Communications Commission, Chairperson of Financial Services Commission, Minister of Korea Forestry Service and Administrator of Korea Meteorological Administration are designated and added as Ex officio members of the Committee. 

  2) It has legal grounds to have the Subcommittee as prescribed by the Chairperson of the Committee to implement affairs by each sector 

D. Targets and Methods of Assessment of Impacts of Climate Change (from Article 21 to 23 of the Proposal, Attached Table) 

  1) Among targets for the strategic environmental assessment and environmental impact assessment, targets for assessment of impacts of climate change shall be prescribed as follows in the Attached Table 2. 

   a) Strategic environmental assessment (policy plan) : Plans by each sector such as energy development, water resource development, mountain land development, road construction and waste treatment facility installment 

   b) Strategic environmental assessment (basic plan for development) : Plan by each sector including energy development, formation of industrial location and industrial complex, urban development and port development, utilization and development of rivers and streams, road construction and waste treatment facility installment. 

   c) Environmental impact assessment (development business) : Business by each sector including energy development, formation of industrial location and industrial complex, urban development, road construction, airport construction, waste treatment facility installment.

  2) Head of the administrative agency who intends to establish the plan that to be included in the assessment of impacts of climate change shall carry out analysis and evaluation after considering the conformity with plans of the related organizations such as global trends or national vision, impact on the climate change and plans for reducing emission, impact caused by the climate and adaptation strategy. Business entities that intends to initiate development business that to be included in the assessment of impacts of climate change shall carry out analysis and evaluation after considering greenhouse gas projection, methods for reducing greenhouse gas, climate change vulnerability, risk assessment and adaptation strategy. 

E. Public institutions subject to the control of targets of greenhouse gas and Methods for monitoring targets (Article 25 and Article 26 of the Proposal) 

  1) Public institutions subject to the control of targets of greenhouse gas shall be designated as follows: Central Administrative Agencies, local government, education offices of cites and provinces, public institutions, local public corporations, provincial industrial complexes, national and public universities, Bank of Korea and Financial Supervisory Service. 

  2) Head of the public institutions subject to the control of targets of greenhouse gas shall set and implement the annual target for the reducing of greenhouse gas and report its performance to the committee after joint-evaluation by heads of the related central administrative agencies. 

  3) The committee shall ask for improvement to promote the reduction of greenhouse gas depending on the evaluation results of implementation 

F. Designation and Management of Controlled Entities of Greenhous Gas Emission (from Article 27 to Article 37 of the Proposal) 

  1) Ministry in charge of each sector (Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs: agriculture, forestry, stock farming, food sectors/Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy: industry and electricity development sectors/Ministry of Environment : waste Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport: building, transport and construction sectors (shipping and ports sectors are excluded)/ Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries: ocean, marine products, shipping and ports sectors). All these Ministries shall haveoverall control on matters of establishment, management of targets and necessary measures under their own jurisdiction.

  2) Standard for Controlled Entities of Emission subject to government is specified as follows. 

   a) Controlled entities whose annual amount of greenhouse gas emission from the entire places of business is over 50,000 tCO2-eq for the recent 3 years as of January 1st of the competent year. 

   b) Controlled entities having places of business with average annual amount of greenhouse gas emission is over 15,000 tCo2-eq for the recent 3 years as of January 1st of the competent year 

  3) Minister of Environment shall have overall control and adjust on the establishment and management of targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas as well as rights and succession of duties of the controlled entities and shall set and announce the comprehensive standard and guidelines to monitor targets of controlled entities after considering advancement of related regulations such as conditions of domestic industries, global trends of carbon neutralization, prevention of dual restriction, etc. 

G. Designation Process of Carbon-Neutral City (Article 38 to Article 41 of the Proposal) 

Minster of Environment and Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport may jointly designate the carbon-neutral city after deliberation and shall also designate supporting agency to establish development plan of carbon-neutral city and support affairs for city development. 

H. Standard of Green Building etc. (Article 43 and Article 44 of the Proposal)

  1) It specifies buildings that are subject to establishment and management of the long-term and periodic goals to reduce the consumption of energy and the greenhouse gas emission in accordance with Article 11(1) of the [Enforcement Decree of the Green Buildings Construction Support Act].

  2) It specifies public institutions and education institutions which shall establish plan of changing its building into green building as public institutions, local public corporations, provincial industrial complexes, government-funded research institutions, and national and public universities. 

I. Targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas (Article 45 to Article 47 of the Proposal)

  1) Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport shall formulate and implement targets for the reduction of greenhouse gas in the transport sector under the consultation etc., with head of relevant administrative agency 

  2) Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy shall set standards for the efficiency of average energy consumption of automobiles and the Minister of Environment shall set standards for allowable greenhouse gas emission from automobiles. The Minister of Environment shall determine standards which allow auto makers to observe standards for the efficiency of average energy consumption of automobiles and standards for allowable greenhouse gas emission from emission from automobiles selectively after considering simplification of measuring method, process and restrictions under the consultation with the Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Minister of Land, and Transport. 

J. Methods and Procedure of the Global Emission Reduction Project (from Article 48 to Article 54 of the Proposal)

 Institution in charge of each sector shall give prior approval to the global emission reduction business after bringing it to the deliberation council for reduction and it is mandatory for business operators to report results to institution in charge of each sector. 

K. Establishment of Integrated Information Management System of Greenhouse Gas Emission (Article 53 of the Proposal) 

The head of institution and local government in charge of each sector shall submit information and statistics on greenhouse gas under its jurisdiction and the competent region to the greenhouse gas integrated center by March 31st, every year, and Minister of Environment shall announce the results of amount of greenhouse gas emission and provisional statistics by each nation, sector and region to the public by December 31, every year

L. Establishment and Operation of Meteorological Information Management System and Climate Crisis Adaptation Information Management System (Article 56 and Article 57 of the Proposal) 

  1) Administrator of Korea Meteorological Administration shall establish and operate Meteorological Information Management System and have overall control and support meteorological affairs for monitoring and forecasts of climate change.

  2) Minister of Environment shall establish and operate Meteorological Information Management and compose and operate consultative group for efficient and systematic establishment and operation.

M. Establishment and Implementation of National and Local Adaption Measures for Climate Crisis and Monitoring of Current Status of Performance (Article 58 to Article 62 of the Proposal) 

  1) Minister of Environment shall consult with relevant central administrative agencies to establish and implement national climate crisis adaption measures and bring it to the council for deliberation annually after reviewing the current status of implementation.   

  2) Mayors, governors of City and province, county governor, head of autonomous gu shall have consultation with the Minister of Environment and deliberation held by local committee to formulate crisis adaptation measures and bring it to the deliberation of the Committee after monitoring of current status of implementation 

N. Establishment of Climate Crisis Adaptation Measure of Public Institution and Monitoring of Current Status of Implementation (From Article 63 to Article 65 of the Proposal) 

  1) Vulnerable institutions are specified as public institutions and local public enterprise under the obligations of establishing climate crisis adaptation measures which possess and manage facilities on traffic, transportation, facilities of energy, water and environment.

  2) Vulnerable institutions with obligations of establishing climate crisis adaptation measures shall provide adaptation policy within a year starting from the date of designation as vulnerable institution, and it is required for them to review the current status of annual performance to submit the result to head of the relevant institution 

O. Impact Assessment of Employment Status (Article 72 of the Proposal) 

  Minister of Employment and Labor shall investigate the impact of employment status every 5 year to establish and implement supporting measures for regions or industries vulnerable to climate crisis.

P. Designation of Special Zone of Just Transition (Article 53 of the Proposal)

  Mayors, governors of province who intend to get approval to designate special zone shall submit application including on its own plan to activate industry, employment and local economy. Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy and Minister of Employment and Labor shall designate special zone after consultation with head of relevant central administrative agency and deliberation of the Committee. 

Q. Suitability Certificate of Green technologiesㆍgreen products, etc. and Accreditation of Specialized Green Enterprises (Article 83 of the Proposal) 

  Those who intends to get suitability certificate of green technologies and green products or accreditation of specialized green enterprises shall request for its certification or accreditation to the head of central administrative agency and matters required for certification shall be jointly announced by heads of relevant central administrative agencies. 

R. Composition and Operation of the Association of Local Governments for Carbon-Neutral (Article 86 and Article 87 of the Proposal) 

  1) Representative of association of local governments for carbon-neutral shall be the head of nationwide consultative council in accordance with Article 165(1)1, 3 of the Local Autonomy Act and may subject to change under the operation regulation of association of local governments

  2) Head of the central administrative agency may provide financial support to the secretariat of the association for encouraging activities of association of local governments 

S. Operation and Management of Climate Response Fund (From Article 92 to Article 100 of the Proposal) 

  Minister of Economy and Finance shall have establish the fund account to clarity revenue and expenditure in the Bank of Korea and the head of central administrative agency shall submit its business plan for the fund to the Minister of Economy and Finance for the allocation of the fund by March 31, every year and the head of central administrative agency to which the fund is allocated should submit the statement of account settlement by January 31 of next year.