Green Budgeting in South Korea: Issue Ownership and Ministerial Leadership

ABSTRACT As climate governance gains urgency, green budgeting has emerged as a vital policy tool to align fiscal systems with environmental goals. Yet, institutional and leadership factors shaping its success remain underexplored. This study examines how issue ownership and ministerial leadership jointly influence green budgeting outcomes in South Korea. Using fuzzy‐set qualitative comparative analysis of 13 central government bodies implementing green budgeting in 2023, we identify four pathways to high performance. Institutionalized long‐term environmental planning emerges as a necessary condition. Two key mechanisms are identified: alignment between ministerial leadership and issue ownership, and politically experienced ministers who leverage institutional and external resources despite weak personal environmental commitment. These findings suggest that effective green budgeting depends not only on leadership but also on embedded institutional arrangements. Our study contributes to the public management literature by offering a dynamic understanding of issue ownership and expanding the scope of ministerial leadership in environmental governance.