South Korea will not present emission trading laws to the parliament until next February instead of this year amid opposition from business groups, a government official said on Tuesday.
“We are in still discussions with the industry side and trying to find a common ground,” Park Chun-kyoo, general director of the Presidential Green Growth Committee, told Reuters.
The draft bill has exchange-base emissions trading scheme slated to start in 2013, which would be the second in Asia after New Zealand if the parliament passes.
But, strong opposition from the industries has become a procedural hurdle for the government’s drive to push through the national emissions trading laws.
Eighteen business groups including the Korea Chamber of Commerce & Industry and the Korea Iron & Steel Association, filed a petition urging the government to wait as similar efforts in competitors in the United States, China, Japan and Australia have stalled or delayed.
Park added that the committee was willing to make a compromise bill after sincere discussions with industry representatives.
