The blueprint for Korea's mandatory ESG disclosure system is moving toward finalization in April. The Financial Services Commission held the sixth meeting of the ESG Finance Promotion Task Force on February 4, 2026, at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Seoul, presided over by Vice Chairman Kwon Dae-young. The meeting was attended by relevant ministries, related institutions, industry, investors and experts, who addressed the remaining issues in institutionalizing disclosure. The conclusion reached at the meeting was to apply the obligation in stages beginning with large companies that have disclosure capacity, and to include Scope 3, the greenhouse gas emissions across the supply chain, within the disclosure scope while allowing a sufficient grace period.
The timetable is divided into two stages. The final draft of the domestic sustainability disclosure standards and the draft roadmap will be released at the Grand Transition for Productive Finance meeting held at the end of February, followed by a public consultation process. The final confirmation of the roadmap itself is set for April. This schedule is the result of one postponement, as the announcement had been scheduled for early February but was delayed due to differences among relevant ministries.
The clock on the institutional discussion has been running for five years. In its 2021 roadmap, the FSC signaled phased mandatory adoption starting in 2025, but in October 2023 it changed course, pushing the timing of the mandate to after 2026 citing schedules in major countries and leaving the specific timing to consultations among relevant ministries. Work on the domestic disclosure standards, based on international standards, began in April 2024. In the stakeholder consultation conducted from May to August 2024, companies raised the scope of disclosure subjects, the level of greenhouse gas emissions calculation, the disclosure burden and litigation risk as concerns.
The gap with overseas schedules sets the baseline for the discussion. The EU implemented its ESG disclosure system in 2025, and Japan has scheduled a mandate for 2027. Vice Chairman Kwon said that although major countries differ in timing, they are gradually institutionalizing ESG disclosure, and that Korea also needs to prepare a roadmap to reduce regulatory uncertainty. He also mentioned in his remarks that the 2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) was established in November 2025.
The most sharply contested issue was Scope 3. The business community requested its removal from the disclosure items on the grounds that supply chains are broad, making measurement and estimation difficult. The meeting's conclusion leaned toward including it while granting a deferral, reviewing a plan that would not write the application timing directly into the disclosure standards but instead set the grace period through the roadmap discussion. Vice Chairman Kwon defined Scope 3 as an item that places a heavy burden on subcontractors and said measures for indemnification and implementation support would be prepared alongside it.
Opinions split in two over the implementation timing. One side arguing for moving it up in line with EU and Japanese trends and another arguing for allowing ample preparation time in consideration of the readiness of small and mid-sized subcontractors clashed at the meeting. A plan to pursue mandatory disclosure starting with large companies from 2028 or 2029 is reportedly under review, but the starting year has not been decided either way. Positions also differ by ministry, with the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment leaning toward early adoption and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and the Financial Services Commission leaning toward granting preparation time that takes corporate feasibility into account.
The vessel that holds the disclosures will also move in stages. A plan was reviewed under which disclosure through the Korea Exchange would be implemented in the early period of adoption, with a switch to statutory disclosure after the system takes hold. Neither the timing of the switch nor the criteria that would determine whether to switch were presented in this discussion. The FSC also decided to form a working group with related institutions for the implementation of disclosure, and to pursue a transition finance framework covering support for the low-carbon transition and expanded funding for small and mid-sized companies.
The items companies can prepare for remain narrow. The total assets or market capitalization threshold for large companies subject to application, and the actual length of the Scope 3 grace period, will all be revealed for the first time in the draft at the end of this month. The three points ahead, the release of the draft at the end of February, the consultation that follows, and the final confirmation in April, will bear watching over the coming months.
