Sejong, June 05 - The Ministry of Environment (Minister Han Wha-jin) and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE, Minister Lee Chang-yang) have announced the public sector's performance in purchasing low-emission vehicles¹ and eco-friendly vehicles² in 2022 and their purchase plan for 2023. 

According to the Clean Air Conservation Act and the Environment-Friendly Motor Vehicles Act, national agencies, local governments, and public institutions are mandated to purchase or lease new vehicles as 100% low-emission vehicles and over 80%³ zero-emission vehicles. The Ministry of Environment and the MOTIE enforce this mandatory program in the public sector together and have shared performance results for the past two years.

In 2022, 8,072 vehicles were either purchased or leased in the public sector. Of those, 90.2% were low-emission vehicles, and 79.1% were zero-emission vehicles. The number of electric and hydrogen vehicles increased by 881 from the previous year, which shows steady growth in the number of zero-emission vehicles purchased or leased.

In the past year, 612 institutions, or 92%, met the required purchase or lease targets, which is an increase of 102 institutions, or 8.3%, from the previous year. Furthermore, the number of institutions providing zero-emission vehicles for their heads of institution increased by 87, totaling 207 institutions compared to the previous year.

In addition, the Ministry of Environment imposed fines of up to KRW 3 million on institutions that did not achieve the mandatory ratio in 2022, following the Clean Air Conservation Act.

This year, 769 institutions plan to purchase or lease low or zero-emission vehicles, with 7,155 low-emission and 6,617 zero-emission vehicles. Of these institutions, 687 are currently compliant with the mandatory ratio for purchase or lease, while 82 are not. The government intends to assist the non-compliant institutions in enhancing their procurement plans and satisfying the required purchase/lease proportion.

Park Yeon-jae, Director-General of the Air Quality Policy Bureau of the Ministry of Environment, stated, "The public sector's efforts have resulted in a constant improvement in the adoption of zero-emission vehicles, which is crucial for achieving carbon neutrality in the transportation industry." She continued, "As the mandatory purchase or lease ratio for zero-emission vehicles will increase from 80% to 100% starting from 2023, we will continue to actively engage the target institutions in order to drive their active participation."

¹According to the Clean Air Conservation Act: (Type 1) Electric and hydrogen vehicles (zero-emission vehicles); (Type 2) Hybrid vehicles; (Type 3) Low-emission vehicles that meet the emission standards for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and gasoline vehicles.

²Electric vehicles, hydrogen vehicles, and hybrid vehicles according to the Act on Promotion of Development and Distribution of Environment-friendly Motor Vehicles.

³Applying conversion ratios by vehicle type rather than solely considering the number of cars.

Contact: Kim Moo Yeon, Deputy Director

Air Quality Future Strategy Division / +82-(0)44-201-6946

Foreign Media Contact: Chun Minjo(Rachel)

+82-(0)44-201-6055 / rachelmchun@korea.kr