제대로 안 걷는 경유차 환경부담금… 징수율 3년 연속 30% 미만

South Korea's environment-improvement levy on old diesel vehicles has fallen short of the 30% target for three consecutive years, according to data released by the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment. On July 27, the parliamentary Climate, Energy and Environment and Labor Committee received data on the 2023-2025 environmental improvement levy collection and enforcement situation.

Despite the levy decreasing each year, falling from ₩97.7 trillion in 2023 to ₩53.35 trillion in 2025, the average collection rate remained under 30%.

The 2025 collection decision totalled ₩53.35 trillion, but excluding the uncollectible amount of ₩52.49 billion, the final decision was ₩48.1 billion. Of this, ₩143 billion was collected (29.7%), while ₩3.379 trillion remained uncollected (70.3%). Regional disparities in collection rates were significant, with Seoul at 17.7%—the lowest of the 17 major cities and provinces.

Other low performers included Gwangju (20.3%), Daejeon (21.4%), Busan and Incheon (26.6%). In contrast, Gyeonggi (46.5%), Sejong (40.6%), and the southeast regions of North Chungcheong (39.2%) and South Jeolla (39.0%) had higher collection rates.

The levy, established under the Environmental Improvement Cost Responsibility Act, aims to impose environmental improvement costs on diesel vehicle owners based on their emissions. It targets older, high-emitting vehicles while excluding newer, low-emission diesel vehicles. Owners of uncollected levies must pay when selling or scrapping their vehicles.

Kim Han-na, a climate policy analyst at the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment, explained that the low collection rate hampers efforts to encourage owners to sell or scrap their old vehicles. Moving forward, the ministry plans to explore alternative revenue streams, such as taxing non-income sources, to improve collection rates. Meanwhile, they are also pushing for early scrapping of outdated diesel vehicles through incentives for five- and four-tier vehicle categories.