Case Analysis and Development of Integrated Environmental Management in Korea or Overseas

Korea’s integrated environmental management system is a system created by bench-marking the integrated environmental management system in Europe. Since 2017, it has been gradually expanding and operating, focusing on type 1 and type 2(large industry) that affect the environment. Therefore, advanced countries such as Europe, the United States, and the United Kingdom are operating as starters for the integrated environmental management system. BAT REFerence (BREF) documents have been produced and operated to acquire integrated environmental management licenses in each country. The U.S. developed ELG, and Korea developed Best Available Techniques (BAT), the same as Europe. To prepare the standard, Europe and Korea form a Technical Working Group (TWG) of companies, research institutes, and universities to collect technical opinions from expert groups and prepare the standard after careful deliberation. However, the U.S. does not operate TWG, but experts led by EPA prepare the standard, so there is a limit to technical discussion. In addition, in terms of operating the integrated environment management system, Europe operates major tasks separately in each country, showing that the threshold for licensing and follow-up management is lower than the conservative approach of the system. In Korea, the integrated environment management system, which started as a latecomer, has been firmly established because the central government and specialized institutions develop and operate the system with their respective expertise, and the acquisition of licenses for first and second types of industry is almost completed, and now it is preparing for the era of the integrated environment management system 2.0. In the 2.0 era, Korea can establish itself as a leader in the world because its geopolitical conditions are superior to Europe and related institutions have superior expertise.