The Ministry of Environment (Minister Han Wha-jin) announced that, based on the 2021 Environmental Protection Expenditure Account compilation data, the total amount of national environmental protection expenditure was calculated to be KRW 47.6958 trillion, an increase of 3.2% compared to the previous year (KRW 46.2269 trillion).

The ‘Environmental Protection Expenditure Account (EPEA)’ is a nationally approved statistic that estimates the amount spent by various economic entities such as the government and businesses on environmental protection. It calculates expenditures in different environmental areas such as air, wastewater, and waste. 

This statistic was initially compiled by the Bank of Korea in the past, but since 2009, the Ministry of Environment has been in charge of the annual compilation. The major results are also submitted to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). 

On the other hand, the indicator ‘National Environmental Protection Expenditure Ratio*’ that presents the overall cost spent on environmental protection in the national economy recorded a decrease of 0.1 percentage points from the previous year (2.39%), reaching 2.29%, in line with the increase in Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

* The National Environmental Protection Expenditure Ratio, which is the expenditure on environmental protection for the entire economy, divided by the Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

Breaking down the expenditures by economic entity, businesses accounted for 54.9% (KRW 26.1635 trillion), the government accounted for 36.7% (KRW 17.5275 trillion), and households accounted for 8.4% (KRW 4.047 trillion).

Looking at expenditures by environmental area, the wastewater sector accounted for the largest share at 36.4% of the total, followed by the air sector (24.4%), and the waste sector (20.8%). These three sectors collectively represented over 80% of the total expenditures.

The major expenditure items in the wastewater sector include sewer maintenance (government) and investments in facilities for reducing water pollution substances (businesses). In the air sector, the key items are fine dust reduction projects (government), investments and operating costs for air pollution reduction facilities (businesses). In the waste sector, expenditures focus on waste collection and disposal (government) and waste disposal outsourcing (businesses). 

Particularly, in the air sector, sustained increases in investments in air pollution reduction facilities by the business sector and fine dust reduction projects by the public sector have led to a consecutive annual growth rate of over 10% for three years. As a result, the proportion of expenditures in the environmental area occupied by the air sector has become higher than that of the waste sector.

Jang Gi-bok, the Director of Green Transition Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Environment, stated, “As the EPEA statistics are compiled according to international standards, it is expected to gain even higher significance in the future. Therefore, the Ministry plans to enhance the utilization of environmental protection expenditure information through the activation of research and more support for users based on the EPEA statistics.” 

For further information, please contact the Public Relations Division. 

Contact person: Gina Lee, foreign media spokesperson

Phone: +82-44-201-6055

Email: gcjgina @gmail.com