South Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said it will 추진 a total of 250 billion won worth of corporate participation-focused carbon-neutral support programs this year. The step is aimed at supporting companies' green transition as carbon neutrality emerges as a key task shaping industrial competitiveness. The programs focus on addressing difficulties companies face in implementing carbon neutrality, including fundraising, facility investment and supply-chain cooperation.

Key programs include a leading carbon-neutral transition project loan program, a carbon-neutral equipment investment project auction program and an industrial supply-chain carbon partnership. The leading carbon-neutral transition project loan program provides long-term low-interest loans to companies making preemptive investments in the carbon-neutral sector. The interest rate is 1.3 percent as of December 2025. The program size is 170 billion won.

The carbon-neutral equipment investment project auction program is a new initiative being launched this year. It identifies and supports equipment investment projects through an auction method, focusing on those with large carbon-reduction effects relative to the government budget. The program size is 25 billion won. The industrial supply-chain carbon partnership is a program in which companies connected through product supply chains cooperate to reduce carbon footprints. It will be newly 추진 this year with a size of 10.5 billion won.

MOTIE produced and distributed explanatory materials for 16 carbon-neutral support programs being 추진 this year. The materials compile key details for each program, eligibility, application procedures and contact information for 담당 staff, organized by target beneficiaries and support fields. It is designed to allow companies to check at a glance information that had been scattered across individual programs. Eligible beneficiaries are divided into small and medium-sized companies, small and medium-sized mid-tier companies, all companies and corporate group consortia. Support fields include facility investment, research and development, the circular economy, international mitigation, greenhouse gas inventories, education and consulting, and infrastructure.

The preparation of the materials follows acceptance of corporate suggestions raised at an industry meeting in November last year on implementing the 2035 NDC. Companies' access to and use of information on government support programs is expected to improve. The materials can be downloaded from the ministry's website.

Park Dong-il, head of the Industrial Policy Office at MOTIE, said: "With the 2035 NDC recently established and carbon neutrality becoming a megatrend in industry, preemptive investment in carbon neutrality by our industry has become more important than ever."

Separately, MOTIE will hold a joint briefing session on its 2026 carbon-neutral support programs on the 21st, covering 4 key programs. It plans to improve companies' understanding and support actual participation through detailed explanations and a question-and-answer session.