Korea-China Climate Tech: Joint Verification First

At the second 2026 Climate Tech Initiative forum, held on the 22nd at the National Assembly Members’ Office Building in Yeouido, Seoul, speakers proposed that South Korea and China begin climate tech cooperation with joint verification rather than joint technology development. Ming-shu, a Tsinghua University environmental engineering professor, and Song Jaeryeong, a senior researcher at the National Institute of Green Technology, proposed combining AI with life cycle assessment (LCA) to check both technology performance and carbon reduction effects while protecting core technologies and raw data.

LCA evaluates environmental impacts across a product or technology’s full life cycle, from obtaining raw materials through manufacturing, use and disposal. Assessing actual greenhouse gas reductions from green technologies requires extensive data from production and operating sites. AI could help build LCA datasets faster by finding, extracting and structuring information scattered across papers and reports, checking consistency, and leaving final validation to experts. If both countries use the same assessment method but their own local data, they can compare a technology’s reduction effects across different production and energy conditions. Speakers also proposed joint assessments and demonstrations in batteries and solar power.

However, the countries use different power mixes, industrial process emissions factors and statistical calculation standards, so simply combining data could distort statistics and introduce errors. Production process data may also contain trade secrets, limiting the sharing of raw data. Oh Seunghwan, head of the Carbon Neutrality Office at the Korea Environment Corporation, proposed a bilateral government council to mutually recognize carbon emissions factors, standardize power mix and process emissions factor criteria, and establish shared carbon measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) guidance and information security safeguards.

Lee Jongmin, head of the Energy and Environment Research Institute at KEPCO Research Institute, divided cooperation into three levels. He identified carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS), resource circulation, MRV and LCA, and testing, certification and standardization as areas for active cooperation. For grid integration of energy storage systems (ESS), renewable energy integration and AI equipment diagnostics, he proposed limited cooperation using anonymized or processed data, digital twins and independent test environments instead of raw data. He said cooperation should be strictly limited for energy management systems (EMS), supervisory control and data acquisition systems (SCADA), core grid operation algorithms and critical power plant control logic.

Choi Gwangsik, head of the Technology Innovation Office at Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, said testing technologies on actual equipment and comparing results jointly would be a more practical starting point than joint development. He said LCA research data would be more useful to industry if linked to equipment operating and maintenance results. He also proposed a phased “demonstration → verification → overseas projects” model, applying technologies to projects in third countries after their performance and operational experience have been established through demonstrations at home and abroad.

Park Yongjin, head of the ESG Business Division at KIS Pricing, said preparing, verifying and tracking carbon data with AI and LCA could support digital MRV and help prevent greenwashing. He also proposed using LCA data that tracks recycled material certifications and their supporting evidence to measure results for green bonds and performance-linked bonds and loans. Another proposal was to examine trade insurance-style financial products that hedge the risk of carbon data being transferred across borders amid regulatory risks, including US-China tensions.

At the second 2026 Climate Tech Initiative forum, held on the 22nd at the National Assembly Members’ Office Building in Yeouido, Seoul, speakers proposed that South Korea and China begin climate tech cooperation with joint verification rather than joint technology development. Ming-shu, a Tsinghua University environmental engineering professor, and Song Jaeryeong, a senior researcher at the National Institute of Green Technology, proposed combining AI with life cycle assessment (LCA) to check both technology performance and carbon reduction effects while protecting core technologies and raw data.

LCA evaluates environmental impacts across a product or technology’s full life cycle, from obtaining raw materials through manufacturing, use and disposal. Assessing actual greenhouse gas reductions from green technologies requires extensive data from production and operating sites. AI could help build LCA datasets faster by finding, extracting and structuring information scattered across papers and reports, checking consistency, and leaving final validation to experts. If both countries use the same assessment method but their own local data, they can compare a technology’s reduction effects across different production and energy conditions. Speakers also proposed joint assessments and demonstrations in batteries and solar power.

However, the countries use different power mixes, industrial process emissions factors and statistical calculation standards, so simply combining data could distort statistics and introduce errors. Production process data may also contain trade secrets, limiting the sharing of raw data. Oh Seunghwan, head of the Carbon Neutrality Office at the Korea Environment Corporation, proposed a bilateral government council to mutually recognize carbon emissions factors, standardize power mix and process emissions factor criteria, and establish shared carbon measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) guidance and information security safeguards.

Lee Jongmin, head of the Energy and Environment Research Institute at KEPCO Research Institute, divided cooperation into three levels. He identified carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS), resource circulation, MRV and LCA, and testing, certification and standardization as areas for active cooperation. For grid integration of energy storage systems (ESS), renewable energy integration and AI equipment diagnostics, he proposed limited cooperation using anonymized or processed data, digital twins and independent test environments instead of raw data. He said cooperation should be strictly limited for energy management systems (EMS), supervisory control and data acquisition systems (SCADA), core grid operation algorithms and critical power plant control logic.

Choi Gwangsik, head of the Technology Innovation Office at Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, said testing technologies on actual equipment and comparing results jointly would be a more practical starting point than joint development. He said LCA research data would be more useful to industry if linked to equipment operating and maintenance results. He also proposed a phased “demonstration → verification → overseas projects” model, applying technologies to projects in third countries after their performance and operational experience have been established through demonstrations at home and abroad.

Park Yongjin, head of the ESG Business Division at KIS Pricing, said preparing, verifying and tracking carbon data with AI and LCA could support digital MRV and help prevent greenwashing. He also proposed using LCA data that tracks recycled material certifications and their supporting evidence to measure results for green bonds and performance-linked bonds and loans. Another proposal was to examine trade insurance-style financial products that hedge the risk of carbon data being transferred across borders amid regulatory risks, including US-China tensions.