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🇰🇷 South Korea /Environment & Climate

Seoul pushes through 106.8 billion won Climate Card refunds despite cheaper national option

From Hankyoreh · () Korean

Translated from Korean and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources New plan
  • Seoul approved a 106.8 billion won supplementary budget to refund Climate Card users 30,000 won per month, up to 90,000 won.
  • The city had identified the need to restructure the program after the national Everybody’s Card plan was introduced, but delayed its transition until after the June 3 local elections.
  • Critics say Seoul could have reduced its financial burden because the national program is funded 40% by the central government and 60% by the city, while the Climate Card is fully city-funded.

Seoul approved 106.8 billion won to refund users of the city’s Climate Card, even though officials had already recognized that a national transport subsidy could provide similar support with central-government funding.

The city began offering Climate Card users refunds of 30,000 won per month, for up to three months, on April 5. It cited the need to encourage public transport use during a period of high oil prices. Seoul submitted the supplementary budget for the refunds to the city council on April 14, and the council approved it on April 28.

The Seoul government pushed ahead with a three-month refund for the Climate Card, even though it could have saved city finances by receiving 40% in national funding.

— Kim Mi-jooA Seoul city council member criticized the city’s decision to finance the refunds entirely from its own budget.

The decision came after Seoul had noted in a December 2025 operating plan that the launch of the government’s Everybody’s Card required a structural overhaul of public transport support. The national scheme combines the existing K-Pass reimbursement system with the Climate Card’s broader benefits. It also covers routes unavailable through the Climate Card, including intercity buses, the metropolitan express railway and the Shinbundang Line.

Contrary to expectations, the number of Climate Card users did not decrease in the first quarter this year.

— Seoul transport policy officialThe official explained why the city delayed merging the Climate Card with the national program.

Seoul expected 700,000 of the Climate Card’s 850,000 users in 2025 to move to Everybody’s Card. Yet the city did not present a transition plan during the first quarter. It announced the Climate Card’s termination only on June 16, shortly after the June 3 local elections. The city expects the new Climate Card-linked Everybody’s Card, called the Climate Transit Pass, to begin on Sept. 1. Physical 30-day Climate Card sales will end on Aug. 31.

Kim Mi-joo, a Seoul city council member, criticized the city for pursuing a three-month refund entirely with local funds when the national plan could provide 40% in central-government support. Climate Card sales reached a monthly record of 214,920 physical cards in April, with about 530,000 sold over the following three months. A city transport official said the number of users had not fallen as expected in the first quarter, and an abrupt merger could have caused greater policy confusion. Seoul also plans to cover the full subway losses attributed to the program, requiring about 110 billion won in additional funding.

If the Climate Card and Everybody’s Card had suddenly been combined during the period of high oil prices, policy confusion would have been greater.

— Seoul transport policy officialThe official defended the delayed transition.
About this summary

Originally published by Hankyoreh in Korean. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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