The supplementary budget to be used by the Ministry of Environment this year in its fight against fine dust pollution will be equivalent to removing 3.7 million diesel cars from the roads for one year, officials said Wednesday. The government proposed a 6.7 trillion won (US$5.8 billion) extra budget on the day to cope with an economic slowdown and growing concerns about unemployment and ultrafine dust. Of the supplementary budget, about 1.5 trillion won will be earmarked to tackle the fine dust problem, ministry officials said, noting the ministry will be responsible for spending 1.06 trillion won of it.

The officials estimated the amount of fine dust reduced by this year’s extra budget spending would correspond to that emitted by 3.7 million diesel passenger cars in one year. “In the first three months of this year, the nation was hit by high concentrations of fine dust. Without radical efforts to reduce fine dust and protect public health, further damage and anxiety are expected,” a ministry official said, explaining the background for the decision to spend over 1 trillion won on a single environmental issue. The average concentration of harmful ultrafine particles, a class one carcinogen, in the air of Seoul last month reached the highest level since record-keeping began in 2015, triggering a wave of public fears about their effect on health.