Korea puts climate tech startups at the centre of its growth strategy

South Korea's government is trying to change the way the country talks about carbon. In the same week, three ministries described climate policy less as a bill to be paid than as an engine for exports and jobs, and the clearest test of that framing is a plan to build 1,000 climate tech companies by 2030, including 30 so-called preliminary unicorns.

The target was announced on Oct. 29 by the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups at a joint meeting in central Seoul. The package is a follow-up to the Korea-Green Transformation, or K-GX, strategy released on Oct. 7, which pledged 1,000 trillion won ($749 billion) over ten years from 2026 to 2035 — 200 trillion won ($150 billion) in government spending and 790 trillion won ($592 billion) or more in climate finance.

The startup measures mix money and deregulation: a climate tech fund of about 600 billion won ($449 million), drawn from sources including the Future Environment Industry Investment Fund and green lending, and a bundled support programme of up to 10 billion won ($7.49 million) per company over as many as five years, covering commercialisation, exports, research and loans. The two ministries also plan regulatory exceptions for climate tech, wider regulatory free zones, and a separate bill, the Climate Tech Industry Promotion Act.

Climate Minister Kim Sung-hwan said innovative companies are what turn a green transition into changes in real industries and markets. SME Minister Lee So-young said the sector could create new markets, investment, jobs and exports, but that its growth ecosystem is "still not sufficient."

The same week, Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hyung-il carried the argument abroad. At the Global Green Growth Summit in Seoul on Oct. 29, hosted by the Global Green Growth Institute, he said protecting the environment and growing the economy had been treated as competing goals for too long, and described K-GX as an attempt to restructure Korea's economy into a green manufacturing power.

His export offering is the Global Verified Carbon Market, or GVCM, which would convert emissions reductions generated in developing countries into internationally tradable, high-integrity carbon credits. Detailed plans were released at an Oct. 12 meeting of economy ministers: credits issued in two categories depending on whether the host country approves their transfer, and blockchain used to record and issue them. GGGI Director-General Kim Sang-hyup said the institute would work to spread high-integrity credit systems and infrastructure to developing countries through the GVCM and the Korea Green New Deal Trust Fund.

On Oct. 30, Finance Vice Minister Kwon Dae-young chaired the first meeting of a task force set up to check progress on major national projects. Of the 151 K-GX tasks, the 130 scheduled for 2026 and 2027 were all reported as proceeding normally.

What ties the week together is a shared premise: that emissions cuts can be sold as growth. The finance ministry puts the size of the global carbon credit market at $7 billion to $35 billion by 2030, citing MSCI and Morgan Stanley Capital International.

Further measures are dated but not yet delivered. The finance ministry said a working code of conduct for transition finance would be prepared in November. Whether the 1,000 companies arrive by 2030 is a goal the announcements set but cannot yet show.