On the morning of February 22, 2026, Daegu Metropolitan City announced a sweeping new initiative aimed at tackling one of the region’s most persistent public health issues: air pollution from aging vehicles. With a budget of 6.6 billion KRW, the city’s 2026 vehicle emission reduction project marks a significant push to reduce fine dust emissions and improve air quality for its residents. The plan, which targets nearly 2,800 vehicles, is part of a broader national effort to make the air cleaner and the environment healthier across South Korea.
This announcement comes just days after the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment unveiled its own ambitious program. On February 19, the ministry revealed it had selected 18 target areas for the 'Our Neighborhood Clean Air Comprehensive Support' project, allocating a national budget of 12 billion KRW. The ministry’s initiative, which stretches from Busan to Gyeonggi Province, broadens the fight for cleaner air beyond the most heavily polluted industrial zones, now including regions with frequent citizen complaints and even small, individually situated businesses like asphalt and lime manufacturing plants.
So, what do these overlapping efforts look like on the ground? In Daegu, the focus is squarely on vehicles that have long been identified as major culprits in the city’s air quality woes. According to the city’s announcement, the project will target 2,565 early retirements of grade 5 emission vehicles, install 92 diesel particulate filters (DPFs), convert 96 pieces of construction machinery to lower emissions, and switch 16 children’s school buses to LPG fuel. In total, 2,769 vehicles are expected to benefit from these upgrades and retirements in 2026.
The application process is, as always, a race against the clock. For grade 5 vehicles and construction machinery, applications will be accepted from March 4 to May 29, 2026, on a first-come, first-served basis. Grade 4 vehicles, meanwhile, have a much shorter window—just ten days, from March 4 to March 13. Priority will be given to the oldest vehicles, school buses for children, and vehicles owned by low-income households and small businesses. The city has also tweaked its subsidy system: support rates for grade 4 vehicles under 3.5 tons have increased from 50% to 70%, with an additional 30% available for those who opt to purchase eco-friendly vehicles. However, for grade 5 vehicles, the second subsidy has been discontinued, leaving only the initial early retirement support in place.
Daegu’s Environment and Water Resources Director, Kim Jeong-seop, was direct in his appeal to residents, stating, “As the early retirement support for grade 5 vehicles wraps up this year, I hope citizens don’t miss this opportunity. This is an important policy to protect clean air, and we urge active participation from everyone.”
These efforts are not without precedent. Since 2019, Daegu has seen a dramatic transformation in its vehicular landscape. The number of unregulated grade 5 vehicles plummeted by approximately 80%, from 100,000 to just 20,000 by the end of 2025. As a result, the concentration of fine particulate matter in the air dropped by 32%—from 22 micrograms per cubic meter to 15. Even more telling, the number of days with 'good' air quality soared from 122 to 214 over the same period, giving residents more than twice as many days to breathe easy.
But Daegu isn’t acting alone. The Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment’s broader 'Our Neighborhood Clean Air Comprehensive Support' project is designed to amplify these localized successes on a national scale. The ministry’s plan is notable for its inclusivity: it no longer focuses solely on the worst-offending industrial zones but also targets areas with frequent citizen complaints and businesses that, while smaller, may still have an outsized impact on neighborhood air quality.
Selected areas for the ministry’s project include industrial complexes in Busan, Daegu, Gwangju, Daejeon, Ulsan, and Gyeonggi Province. The approach is comprehensive, offering technical advice, upgrades to air pollution prevention facilities, improvements to IoT monitoring devices, and robust post-monitoring support. The aim? To lighten the economic burden on small and medium enterprises while delivering tangible improvements in the air residents breathe every day.
The ministry plans to work closely with local governments to conduct odor surveys and carry out precise air quality investigations using advanced monitoring equipment. For businesses found to be high polluters, the ministry will provide technical diagnoses and draw up improvement plans in partnership with regional environmental support centers. Outdated pollution prevention facilities will be replaced, and IoT-based continuous monitoring systems will be installed to keep a close watch on emissions.
There’s real evidence that these strategies work. According to ministry officials, an analysis of a support project in Incheon from 2019 to 2024 showed a staggering 57.7% reduction in pollutant emissions from supported small businesses, and a 21% to 23% decrease in concentrations of PM10 and PM2.5—two of the most dangerous forms of fine dust. These results, officials say, are a “demonstration case” that proves reducing emissions from small businesses can have a direct and measurable impact on local air quality.
Director Kim Jin-sik of the Ministry’s Air Environment Bureau underscored the importance of expanding support to include individual business sites near residential areas. “We will expand the management scope from industrial complexes to individual business sites near residential areas so that residents can feel the changes in their daily lives,” he said. Kim also pledged to strengthen systematic support for companies and ensure transparent sharing of monitoring results with the community, aiming for a sustainable air policy built on cooperation between residents and businesses.
It’s hard to overstate the importance of these efforts. Fine dust and air pollution have long been recognized as serious health hazards in South Korea, contributing to respiratory illnesses, cardiovascular disease, and reduced quality of life. The combined approach of targeting both vehicular and industrial emissions, while also leveraging new technology like IoT monitoring, represents a multi-pronged attack on a problem that affects millions.
As 2026 unfolds, the people of Daegu—and residents in cities across South Korea—will be watching closely to see if these initiatives can deliver on their promise. For now, the numbers are trending in the right direction, and officials seem determined not to let momentum slip away. With continued investment, vigilant monitoring, and active participation from both citizens and businesses, there’s genuine hope that cleaner, healthier air is no longer just a distant goal but an achievable reality.