Politicians slash budgets for climate crisis response

Steam billows from the chimney of the West Incheon Combined Cycle Power Plant as seen from the observation deck of Ara Tower in Jungseojin, Seo-gu, Incheon, on Nov. 22. By Sung Dong-hoon

Major political parties, including the ruling People's Power Party (PPP) and the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), have slashed budgets for climate crisis response, which has already fallen short of the statutory target, during the 2024 budget deliberations.

Jang Hye-young of the opposition Justice Party, a member of the National Assembly's Special Committee on Climate Crisis and Special Committee on Budget Settlement, said on January 22, "After analyzing the data submitted by the Carbon Neutrality and Green Growth Committee, it was found that the budget for climate crisis response that was cut during the National Assembly's budget deliberations amounted to 133.8 billion won. It shows that the government, the ruling party, and the main opposition party have no willingness to respond to climate change."

According to the data analyzed by Jang, the government's total budget for climate crisis response in 2024, confirmed by the National Assembly, is 13.83 trillion won. This is 3.42 trillion won (19.8 percent) less than the 17.24 trillion-won target for 2024 in the government's carbon-neutral national basic plan, which was decided in April last year.

The government has budgeted 13.96 trillion won for 379 projects across 19 ministries and agencies for the 2024 climate response budget. Both the ruling and opposition parties cut 133.8 billion won (1 percent). This is nearly half of the 300 billion won, which was cut from the total government budget during the National Assembly deliberations. The total amount of cuts in the climate crisis response budget was 207.3 billion won, while the total amount of increases was 73.5 billion won.

The main projects that cut the budget are large-scale loans or technology development projects. The budget for the zero-emission vehicle supply project was cut by 79.5 billion from the total 2.4 trillion won, and that for the future environmental industry development loan was reduced by 50 billion won, from 380 billion won to 330 billion won. Loan support for the carbon neutralization pioneering project (35 billion won), the budget for the affordable transportation card mileage plus project (11.6 billion won), and the budget for the leased smart farm infrastructure project (10.4 billion won) also decreased significantly.

By ministry, the Ministry of Environment's budget for climate crisis response was cut the most. It decreased by 110.2 billion won (about 2 percent) from the government’s original plan of 5.53 trillion won to 5.44 trillion won. The climate response budgets of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (cut by 13 billion won, about 4.5 percent) and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport (cut by 11.6 billion won, about 3.9 percent) were also reduced.

Jang criticized, "We had to prevent further cuts in the climate response budget, which fell short of the goal of the carbon neutral basic plan by more than 3 trillion won," adding, "In other words, the two major parties shared the district projects at the expense of the climate response budget."

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.