Air pollutant emissions from large industrial sites edged up last year

Air pollutant emissions from large industrial facilities across South Korea increased last year, partly due to the fallout from the Russia-Ukraine war, the government said Tuesday.

The Ministry of Climate, Environment and Energy said total air pollutant emissions from 954 large industrial sites monitored through the Telemonitoring System (TMS) — a remote smokestack surveillance network — reached 208,937 tons last year, up slightly from 207,724 tons the year before.

The ministry attributed the increase to a growing number of TMS-equipped smokestacks and a rise in sulfur oxide emissions. The latter stemmed from difficulties importing high-quality, low-sulfur anthracite coal from Russia following US trade sanctions imposed in response to the Russia-Ukraine war.

Breaking down emissions by pollutant, sulfur oxides and dust rose 5.2 percent and 3.9 percent year-on-year to 63,666 tons and 4,411 tons, respectively. Nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide fell 1.3 percent and 8.1 percent to 138,402 tons and 2,077 tons.

The steel and iron manufacturing sector was the largest emitter, releasing 70,962 tons, or 34 percent of the total. It was followed by the power generation sector at 59,203 tons (28.3 percent), cement manufacturing at 40,907 tons (19.6 percent) and the petrochemical products industry at 23,815 tons (11.4 percent).

By region, South Jeolla Province recorded the highest emissions at 43,306 tons across 94 facilities, followed by South Chungcheong Province at 39,361 tons (118 facilities), Gangwon Province at 30,591 tons (31 facilities) and North Gyeongsang Province at 25,139 tons (90 facilities).

The ministry said the TMS figures cover only smokestacks equipped with the monitoring devices and do not represent total emissions from all industrial sites. TMS-equipped smokestacks account for approximately 85 percent of total emissions from the monitored facilities.