Twenty. That is the number of places, among the nation's 243 local governments, that hold a budget statement examining the greenhouse gas impact of fiscal projects for the 2026 fiscal year. The tally comes from a report released three days ago by the Naralsalim Research Institute (나라살림연구소). The budgets of the remaining 223 were drawn up without any calculation of whether their projects increase or reduce greenhouse gases.
The gap did not arise because the system itself is missing. Article 24 of the Framework Act on Carbon Neutrality requires the state and local governments to analyze the impact of budgets and funds on climate change. The central government revised the National Finance Act and the National Accounting Act in 2021 and put procedures in place, and it has drawn up greenhouse gas reduction-aware budget bills four times, from fiscal 2023 through fiscal 2026.
The problem is the channel down to the local level. The Local Finance Act, the Framework Act on Local Government Fund Management and the Local Accounting Act remain as they were. Since the local finance laws do not back up what the higher law requires, for local governments it becomes a task they may do or may skip.
Traces of local governments filling that gap with ordinances remain in the statistics. As of February this year, 30 places had enacted separate operating ordinances, 8 at the metropolitan level and 22 at the basic level. Fifteen places passed ordinances but could not put the system into operation because the underlying laws had not been amended or because of the effective date. Only 8 places went as far as submitting a settlement statement that accounted for the results after a full year's budget had been spent, as of fiscal 2024.
The lineup of the 8 that submitted settlement statements is worth noting. At the metropolitan level, Seoul, Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province and Jeju Province were listed, and at the basic level, Daedeok-gu in Daejeon, Seongnam in Gyeonggi, Gwangmyeong in Gyeonggi and Gwangyang in South Jeolla. It means this is not something only large jurisdictions can manage. Basic local governments with populations of just over 100,000 also completed a full round of budgeting and settlement.
In the same week the report pointing out the institutional gap appeared, a legislative attempt was filed on another front. Rep. Wi Seong-gon (Democratic Party of Korea, Seogwipo, Jeju) introduced a partial amendment bill to the Framework Act on Carbon Neutrality and Green Growth on the 13th of this month as lead sponsor. It would define in law the concept of a "carbon budget," meaning the total greenhouse gas emissions permitted over a set period, and have national reduction targets set on that basis.
The amendment also includes the establishment of a Climate Science Committee, an independent body under the President. Its role is to calculate the national carbon budget periodically and to analyze the government's reduction targets scientifically and recommend policy. The United Kingdom and Germany have built into policy a method of setting a total emissions allowance for each period and operating within it. It is an approach that handles reduction targets in accounting units.
If the carbon budget sets the total, the reduction-aware budgeting system is closer to a calculator that divides that total among individual projects. When the two systems work together, climate policy moves from slogans to ledgers. Whether the amendment reaches beyond the national level to regional allocation can be confirmed only after the details of its provisions are released.
The current among voters is favorable to this discussion. In a survey of 17,865 voters by Climate Politics Wind (기후정치바람), 53.5% said they would seriously weigh their vote on the basis of climate pledges even if those differ from their usual political views. Responses saying they would stick with the party they support came to 22.4%, and those saying they had settled on neither came to 23.0%. The share in favor of differentiated electricity rates was 63.5%, and responses saying the Yongin semiconductor industrial complex should be moved to a region with abundant power were counted at 53%.
Ahead of the local elections this June, local governments' authority over the energy transition has widened. As that authority grows, tools are needed to keep a record of how it acts on emissions. Budget statements and settlement statements are the simplest way to produce that record.
Anyone can check whether the local government they live in is among the 20 or among the 30. Open the budget disclosure section of the local government website and look for whether the phrase "greenhouse gas reduction-aware" appears. If it does not, one more item has emerged to put to the candidates you meet in June.
