[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-1-en-105":3,"doc-seo-564747-105":53,"doc-detail-564747-en":126},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,14,19,24,29,34,39,44,49],{"id":8,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":11,"show_sort_weight":12,"slug":13},11,1,"Template","Presentations",90,"presentations",{"id":15,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":16,"show_sort_weight":17,"slug":18},12,"Resumes",80,"resumes",{"id":20,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":21,"show_sort_weight":22,"slug":23},14,"Invoices",70,"invoices",{"id":25,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":26,"show_sort_weight":27,"slug":28},15,"Posters",60,"posters",{"id":30,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":31,"show_sort_weight":32,"slug":33},16,"Social Media",50,"social-media",{"id":35,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":36,"show_sort_weight":37,"slug":38},17,"Forms",40,"forms",{"id":40,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":41,"show_sort_weight":42,"slug":43},18,"Letters",30,"letters",{"id":45,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":46,"show_sort_weight":47,"slug":48},21,"Paper Templates",5,"papers-templates",{"id":50,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":51,"show_sort_weight":4,"slug":52},158,"General","general-158",{"code":4,"msg":54,"data":55},"ok",{"site_id":56,"language":57,"slug":58,"title":59,"keywords":60,"description":61,"schema_data":62,"social_meta":119,"head_meta":121,"extra_data":123,"updated_unix":125},105,"en","korea-sme-decarbonisation-trends-and-environmental-footprint-overview","Korea - SME Decarbonisation Trends and Environmental Footprint Overview","","The document reviews decarbonisation trends in Korea with a focus on how small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) contribute to environmental pressures. It explains Korea’s economy-wide emissions trajectory, energy mix dependence on fossil fuels, and sectoral emission sources. It then quantifies SME energy use and GHG shares in industry, highlights sub-sectors with high SME emission intensity, and links emissions coverage to the K-ETS structure. Finally, it outlines government support instruments for SME emissions reduction and measurement.",{"@graph":63,"@context":118},[64,80,101],{"@type":65,"itemListElement":66},"BreadcrumbList",[67,71,74,77],{"item":68,"name":69,"@type":70,"position":9},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":72,"name":10,"@type":70,"position":73},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/",2,{"item":75,"name":11,"@type":70,"position":76},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/presentations/",3,{"item":78,"name":59,"@type":70,"position":79},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/korea-sme-decarbonisation-trends-and-environmental-footprint-overview/564747/",4,{"url":78,"name":59,"@type":81,"image":82,"author":87,"headline":59,"publisher":90,"fileFormat":93,"inLanguage":57,"description":61,"dateModified":94,"datePublished":95,"encodingFormat":93,"isAccessibleForFree":96,"interactionStatistic":97},"DigitalDocument",{"url":83,"@type":84,"width":85,"height":86},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/korea-sme-decarbonisation-trends-and-environmental-footprint-overview/564747.png","ImageObject",442,249,{"name":88,"@type":89},"Finn","Person",{"url":68,"name":91,"@type":92},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-24","2026-10-12",true,{"@type":98,"interactionType":99,"userInteractionCount":47},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":100},"ViewAction",{"@type":102,"mainEntity":103},"FAQPage",[104,110,114],{"name":105,"@type":106,"acceptedAnswer":107},"Why does the document emphasize SMEs in Korea’s decarbonisation efforts?","Question",{"text":108,"@type":109},"SMEs are central to decarbonising the Korean economy, especially in energy-intensive manufacturing sectors with a high share of SME emissions.","Answer",{"name":111,"@type":106,"acceptedAnswer":112},"What key factors limit many SMEs from acting on carbon neutrality?",{"text":113,"@type":109},"Most SMEs recognize the green transition, but few have implemented strategic plans and actions toward carbon neutrality.",{"name":115,"@type":106,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How does Korea’s support framework help SMEs reduce emissions?",{"text":117,"@type":109},"The government provides investment support for energy-efficient equipment and green loans linked to credit guarantee schemes, while public bodies assist SMEs with emissions measurement using simplified tools.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":78,"og:type":120,"og:title":59,"og:site_name":91,"og:description":61},"article",{"robots":122,"canonical":78},"index,follow",{"doc_id":124,"site_id":56},564747,1792291368,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":127},{"doc_id":124,"user_id":128,"nickname":88,"user_avatar":129,"doc_module":9,"category_id":8,"category_name":11,"doc_title":59,"doc_description":61,"doc_content":130,"file_id":131,"file_url":132,"file_type":133,"file_size":134,"view_count":47,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":9,"is_downloadable":9,"audit_status":9,"page_count":30,"language":135,"language_code":57,"site_id":56,"html_lang":57,"table_of_contents":136,"faqs":137,"seo_title":138,"seo_description":61,"update_tm":139,"read_time":140},34359740700684,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/1f400023980c374ae676?_k=1777273430885731487","Korea  \nIntroduction  \nThis country note highlights recent decarbonisation trends in Korea, examines information on the environmental footprint of Korean SMEs, and outlines main government policies for SME decarbonisation. Korean SMEs are central to decarbonising the Korean economy, particularly in energy-intensive manufacturing sectors with a high share of SME emissions, such as textiles (78%) and automotive (39%) . Most SMEs recognise the importance of the green transition, but few have implemented strategic plans and actions towards carbon neutrality. To address this gap, the government has established a range of support instruments. These include investment support programmes for energy-efficient equipment, as well as green loans linked to credit guarantee schemes, where Korea plays a leading role in integrating GHG emissions performance criteria into the design of green finance products for SMEs. In parallel, various public bodies assist SMEs in measuring emissions, including through simplified tools available on the SME Climate Response Platform, particularly for firms not covered by mandatory reporting under the Korea Emissions Trading Scheme (K-ETS) .  \nSMEs in the green transition  \nKorea’s progress in the decarbonisation of the economy  \nThe Korean economy relies heavily on imported fossil fuels to meet its energy demands. This reflects the country’s limited domestic fossil fuel resources and means it is a net importer of embodied carbon in final consumption (OECD, 2025[1]) . Production-based GHG (per capita) emissions increased steadily until around 2018 . Since 2018, they started to decline, while remaining above the OECD average. Nevertheless, Korea has achieved a relative decoupling of carbon emissions from real GDP growth since the early 2000s (Figure 1 , Panel A) . The country’s energy mix remains highly dependent on fossil fuels, with renewables accounting for less than 3% of total primary energy supply. A similarly fossil-fuel-intensive pattern is observed in the electricity generation sector.1 The largest sources of GHG emissions in Korea are the energy industry and manufacturing, which together account for more than half of total emissions. These are followed by the transport sector, while buildings, waste, agriculture and other sectors contribute comparatively smaller shares (Figure 1 , Panel B) .  \nFigure 1. Decoupling of GHG emissions from economic growth and emissions by source, Korea  \nSource: OECD (2025) Environment at a Glance: Korea, [https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/environment-at-a-glance-country](https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/environment-at-a-glance-country)notes_59ce6fe6-en/korea_acc98282-en.html (Panel A and B).;  \nThe environmental footprint ofSMEs  \nSMEs account for a substantial share of GHG emissions in Korea. According to the latest available statistics of the Korea Energy Agency (KEA), in 2023, SMEs accounted for around 8.8% of energy consumption and 14.3% of GHG emissions in the industrial sectors (manufacturing and mining) .2 Korea’s major GHG-intensive industries such as steel, cement, petrochemicals and power generation are dominated by a small number of large enterprises. Therefore, large firms account for the major share of national emissions. This pattern is reflected in the design of Korea’s Emissions Trading Scheme (K-ETS), which regulates 816 major emitting facilities that together covered approximately 79% of national GHG emissions in 2022.3  \nNonetheless, there are some energy-intensive manufacturing sectors with a high share of SME GHG emissions, such as textile manufacturing (78%) and the automotive industry (39%) (Figure 2). Additionally, food and beverage (34%) and pulp and paper (30%) industries display balanced shares of GHG emissions, and mark sectors with particularly high GHG emission shares among mid-sized firms (41% and 65% respectively) . Similarly, with 79%, mid-sized firms in the non-metallic minerals sector (glass, ceramics) are responsible for the la","cbCaik8YorhFrjOS","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaik8YorhFrjOS","pdf",667804,"English","# Introduction\n## Korea’s progress in the decarbonisation of the economy\n## The environmental footprint of SMEs\n### SME shares of GHG emissions by manufacturing sub-sector and firm size","[{\"question\":\"Why does the document emphasize SMEs in Korea’s decarbonisation efforts?\",\"answer\":\"SMEs are central to decarbonising the Korean economy, especially in energy-intensive manufacturing sectors with a high share of SME emissions.\"},{\"question\":\"What key factors limit many SMEs from acting on carbon neutrality?\",\"answer\":\"Most SMEs recognize the green transition, but few have implemented strategic plans and actions toward carbon neutrality.\"},{\"question\":\"How does Korea’s support framework help SMEs reduce emissions?\",\"answer\":\"The government provides investment support for energy-efficient equipment and green loans linked to credit guarantee schemes, while public bodies assist SMEs with emissions measurement using simplified tools.\"}]","Korea - SME Decarbonisation Trends and Environmental Footprint Overview | PDF",1791843959,6]