The Ministry of SMEs and Startups said on the 5th that it is recruiting small and midsize enterprises to take part in a support program to build infrastructure to respond to the carbon border adjustment mechanism.
The carbon border adjustment mechanism imposes an expense equivalent to the amount of carbon emitted during production on carbon-intensive products exported to the European Union (EU). It currently applies to six items: steel, aluminum, cement, fertilizer, electricity, and hydrogen.
Companies must measure the amount of carbon emitted when producing products and report it to EU importers, and starting this year, EU importers are additionally required to purchase certificates corresponding to the amount of carbon emissions.
The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) has been carrying out an infrastructure-building program since 2024 to reduce the response burden for small and midsize exporters to the EU. This year, it plans to support about 20 corporations by establishing a verification system that accurately measures greenhouse gas emissions and reports the results transparently.
Small and midsize enterprises that directly or indirectly export the target items to the EU or wish to export can receive up to 42 million won through this program for building measuring equipment to assess carbon emissions from production facilities and for preparing verification reports by professional institutions to confirm the reliability of calculated emissions.
The program supports not only measuring equipment for assessing carbon emissions from production facilities but also infrastructure such as carbon emissions monitoring systems for calculating emissions. It also helps with verification and opinion letters by domestic professional institutions to secure the reliability of calculated carbon emissions.
Interested small and midsize enterprises can find detailed program information on the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) website or the ESG integrated platform. The application period runs from the 6th to the 27th.
Kim Dae-hee, director general for SME strategy and planning at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS), said, "Starting this year, the carbon border adjustment mechanism will be fully implemented, and exporting SMEs are expected to face the burden of certificate purchase expense," and added, "We hope this program will help strengthen SMEs' response capabilities."