Korea's environment ministry launches EV pledge campaign with carbon points

South Korea's environment ministry said Monday it has begun a signature campaign encouraging a shift to electric vehicles, offering carbon-neutral points to anyone who pledges to make the switch, with Minister Kim Sung-hwan the first to sign.

The campaign opened inside the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment and its affiliated agencies on Nov. 2 and will widen in stages to employees of companies and public institutions and then to the general public. From Nov. 27, members of the public can take part through the integrated Korea Climate Action and Carbon Neutral Point website or the Carbon Pay mobile app.

Those who sign commit to prioritizing public transport for everyday trips and to buying a zero-emission vehicle such as an electric car when they rent a vehicle or buy a new one for travel or business. Signing earns 2,000 carbon-neutral points, with a further 20,000 points available on an actual electric vehicle purchase. The 2,000 points are due to be paid at the end of next month, while the standards and procedures for the purchase points will be announced separately. Non-members must register on the website or app to receive the benefits.

The ministry said it is rewarding the purchase stage as well as the pledge so that the campaign does not end as a one-off promise but leads to concrete action.

"We will support this campaign so that pledges to switch lead to actual purchases and to the everyday use of electric vehicles," Kim said.

New electric vehicle registrations in the first nine months of the year totaled 297,000, or 23.8 percent of all new vehicles registered, an increase of more than 70 percent from the same period last year.