President Lee Jae Myung (third from right) on Oct. 7 speaks at the national report meeting on the Korea-Green Transformation (K-GX) strategy at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Seoul's Jung-gu District. (Cheong Wa Dae)

By Hong Angie

The initiative Korea-Green Transformation (K-GX) will seek to invest KRW 1,000 trillion by 2035 to achieve carbon neutrality while driving economic growth.

President Lee Jae Myung on Oct. 7 stressed the importance of the country leading the green market at a national report meeting at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Seoul's Jung-gu District. He called the project a "clear future strategy" to secure global competitiveness and protect lives and communities from the climate crisis.

He also accepted an industry proposal to allow companies running early-stage deficits to receive tangible benefits from the initiative, ordering relevant ministries to consider a hybrid support program combining tax credits with direct subsidies.

Public assistance will go to five high-emission sectors -- steel, petrochemicals, refining, cement and semiconductors -- to help demonstrate hydrogen-based steelmaking and development of eco-friendly raw materials to transform their production processes into low-carbon methods. Expansion of renewable energy capacity will eye a boost of 100 gigawatts by 2030 and elevation of the share of zero-emission vehicles among new models to over 70% by 2035.

Key areas will be designated national flagship green industries like batteries, solar power, small modular reactors, hydrogen, and carbon capture, utilization and storage. Stronger support will also go toward tax credits for domestically produced key components and the commercial application of related technologies.

Industry also announced investments worth KRW 220 trillion in K-GX signature projects like Hanwha Qcells' localization of high-efficiency tandem solar cells, POSCO's development of a no-carbon steel ecosystem, and the green transformation of residential spaces by Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics.

Over the next decade, five major policy financial institutions will provide KRW 200 trillion in fiscal funding and over KRW 790 trillion in climate finance. The issuance of green bonds and help for 200 promising climate tech companies will seek to build a sustainable ecosystem for the green economy.

shong9412@korea.kr