Korea enacts climate adaptation framework law with five-year risk assessments

South Korea has enacted a standalone climate adaptation statute, Act No. 21964, promulgated by President Lee Jae-myung on 22 September 2026 and published in the Official Gazette (Gwanbo) No. 21327. The Climate Crisis Adaptation and Resilience Enhancement Act establishes a dedicated legal framework for climate-risk assessment, adaptation information systems and national and local adaptation plans, transferring those provisions out of the Carbon Neutrality and Green Growth Framework Act. It enters into force one year after promulgation, on 22 September 2027.

The law was passed by the National Assembly and countersigned by Prime Minister Han Seong-suk and Minister of Climate, Energy and Environment Kim Seong-hwan. It comprises 33 articles in five chapters plus supplementary provisions, and its stated purpose is to raise adaptive capacity, reduce vulnerability to the climate crisis and strengthen climate resilience and public safety. It formally defines concepts absent from earlier statutes, including climate crisis vulnerability, climate risk, climate impact and climate resilience, and binds the state, local governments and public institutions to act on them.

Climate risk assessment and adaptation information

• The government must periodically survey and analyse climate impacts and vulnerability by sector and region (Article 10) and assess sectoral climate risk on that basis (Article 11).
• The minister must compile and publish a comprehensive climate risk assessment report every five years (Article 11).
• An adaptation information management system and an integrated adaptation information platform are to be built and operated, with adaptation information disclosed to the public (Articles 7 to 9).
• Climate risk spatial information is to be constructed and visualised, and used by central agencies, local governments and vulnerable institutions to reduce risk (Article 12).
• Risk assessment results must be reflected in ten categories of plans, including the national basic plan, city and province plans, city, county and district plans, mid- and long-term administrative plans, national land plans, urban master plans and the regional era comprehensive plan.

Five-year plans for the state, regions and public bodies

• A national climate crisis adaptation plan must be established every five years, deliberated by the National Climate Crisis Response Committee, with annual progress reports published (Articles 13 and 14).
• City and province governors and city, county and district heads must adopt local adaptation plans every five years, subject to local committee deliberation, and submit them to the minister with annual progress checks (Article 16).
• Local adaptation consultative councils are to be organised for each metropolitan city, special city, province and special self-governing province, chaired by the head of the competent regional river basin or local environment office (Article 17).
• Vulnerable institutions holding climate-vulnerable facilities must adopt public institution adaptation plans every five years and file annual implementation records (Article 18).
• Adaptation indicators are to be developed and performance assessed every two years, and an adaptation mainstreaming evaluation of administrative plans may be reflected in government performance evaluation (Articles 19 and 20).
• A climate crisis adaptation policy consultative council sits at the ministry, chaired by the minister, with vice-minister-level members from the Office for Government Policy Coordination, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, the Ministry of Planning and Budget, the National Heritage Administration, the Korea Forest Service, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency and the Korea Meteorological Administration (Article 15).

Funding, insurance and vulnerable groups

• The government must survey climate-vulnerable groups, may subsidise local government costs and may run support projects for vulnerable groups and repeatedly affected areas (Articles 21 and 22).
• Climate insurance is to be promoted, with premium support for vulnerable groups and a climate insurance comprehensive information system (Article 23).
• The adaptation industry is to be fostered, and companies supported in scientifically measuring and disclosing climate risks affecting asset value (Articles 24 and 25).
• A National Climate Crisis Adaptation Center may be designated by the minister, and specialist training institutions recognised (Articles 26 and 29).
• Funding may come from the Climate Response Fund, the Environmental Improvement Special Account, the Regional Balanced Development Special Account, the Agricultural and Rural Structural Improvement Special Account and the Energy and Resources Special Account (Article 32).

Transitional rules and consequential amendments

Existing adaptation plans, the adaptation information management system and platform, the adaptation center and climate social safety net measures are deemed to have been established under the new law. The Carbon Neutrality and Green Growth Framework Act is amended to delete Articles 37(2) and (3), 37-2, 39 to 42, 46, 47(2) and (4) and 80(3), and to redirect cross-references to the new statute; the Climate and Climate Change Monitoring and Prediction Act and the Special Act on the Establishment of the Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Special City are also amended.

The law gives climate adaptation its own statutory footing for the first time, converting what were scattered obligations into enforceable five-year planning, reporting and disclosure duties for central ministries, every city, province, county and district, and public institutions. For readers, that means a public, recurring paper trail on climate risk — assessment reports, adaptation indicators and published progress checks — and a legal basis for insurance, funding and support targeted at the most exposed groups and regions.

Source: Gwanbo (Official Gazette of the Republic of Korea), No. 21327, 22 September 2026, Legislation section, p. 31 (official reference: Act No. 21964).