CETEx at UNFCCC Climate Week: Korea’s transition finance at a crossroads

Published 6 May, 2026 Commentary Economic & fiscal policy

CETEx Executive Director and Professor in Practice, Rob Patalano (pictured below), travelled to South Korea in April 2026 to co-host an international panel as part of the UNFCCC Climate Week 3 and Korea Green Transformation Week in Yeosu. The panel, titled ‘Emerging synergies between national and corporate transition planning: Spotlight on Korea’, was co-organised by CETEx, the Transition Pathway Initiative Global Climate Transition Centre, and the Institute for Green Transformation, with support from the Korean Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment (MCEE).

Despite strong corporate readiness for climate transition among Korean companies, the panel surfaced a critical structural gap: Korea’s transition finance framework is not yet designed to convert corporate ambition into actual capital flows.

Professor Patalano gave in-depth interviews to two major Korean financial publications following the event, offering his detailed assessment of what Korea needs to do next. English translations of these interviews are linked at the end of this page.

Patalano’s central message was clear: South Korea has direction but lacks the infrastructure for investment decisions to follow. Transition finance guidelines remain voluntary, external verification is optional, and sector-specific emissions reduction roadmaps are still insufficiently detailed – leaving financial institutions without the tools they need to evaluate and fund corporate transition plans with confidence.

Patalano pointed to the UK’s Transition Finance Council as a model, noting how it integrates sector-specific transition plans with financing plans in a unified process alongside the government’s Net Zero Council. He argued that South Korea – set to chair the G20 in 2028 – has a significant opportunity to demonstrate genuine progress on transition finance to the international community, but that this will require mandatory disclosure frameworks, reliable data infrastructure and clearer policy signals to markets.

On industrial competitiveness, Patalano was direct: for carbon-intensive sectors like steel, the case for transition is not primarily environmental – it is competitive. With Chinese and European companies already investing heavily in hydrogen and clean technologies, Korean industries that delay innovation risk losing their international standing and becoming an economic liability. Transition, he argued, is the most rational choice even on purely commercial grounds.

Patalano also highlighted the role of central bank leadership, expressing confidence that the recent appointment of Shin Hyun-song as Governor of the Bank of Korea represents a significant opportunity to align monetary operations, risk management and collateral frameworks with climate transition goals. At a time when central banks’ commitment to climate policy is wavering in several major economies, he noted that having an expert with both theoretical and practical capabilities at the helm of the Bank of Korea is an enormous benefit.

Read the English translations of the full interviews

‘South Korea’s transition finance is missing a puzzle piece’ (Dailian, 27 April 2026) – English translation link

‘Failure to green-transform Korea’s steel industry could cost it global competitiveness’ (Biz Hankook, 28 April 2026) – English translation link