A platform for sharing carbon data among companies connected through supply chains will be created through a public-private partnership.
Anduk Geun, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy (sixth from the left), is taking a commemorative photo with attendees at the 'Industrial Supply Chain Carbon Neutrality Alliance Launch Meeting' held on the 25th at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Jung-gu, Seoul. [Image source=Yonhap News]
On the 25th, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced the industrial supply chain carbon neutrality strategy at the launch meeting of the "Industrial Supply Chain Carbon Neutrality Alliance" held at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Jung-gu, Seoul. The meeting was attended by Minister An Deok-geun of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Chairman Chey Tae-won of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Chairman Kim Sang-hyup of the Carbon Neutrality and Green Growth Committee, and others. Representatives from industry-specific associations such as the Battery Industry Association, the Automobile Mobility Industry Association, and related organizations also participated.
The "Korean-style Industrial Supply Chain Carbon Data Platform" proposed at the meeting will initially connect carbon data from five major industries where carbon regulations have become active: battery, automobile, home appliances, steel & aluminum, and textiles. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy plans to expand and develop the platform to cover all industries and industrial data in the future.
The ministry plans to refer to overseas platform initiatives such as Gaia-X and Catena-X (both EU), and Uranos Ecosystem (Japan), and will start a project in September to derive guidelines for platform construction. Based on the results of this project, the platform will be actively developed from 2026 to 2027.
The ministry intends to support the calculation and reduction of carbon emissions occurring in the supply chain. Among these efforts, it will focus on supporting carbon emission calculations for groups of companies connected through export supply chains and will also expand the carbon emission basic data (LCI DB) necessary for calculating carbon emissions. Cooperation with industrial complexes and local governments will be strengthened to support vulnerable companies in the supply chain, and financial and investment support will be expanded to facilitate the carbon neutrality transition of high carbon-emitting industries.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy will begin work on creating the platform through a public-private partnership involving economic organizations, specialized institutions, industry-specific associations, and companies. On this day, the public and private sectors launched the "Industrial Supply Chain Carbon Neutrality Alliance." The platform will be created in the form of a "data space." This method ensures data sovereignty, which is a trade secret of individual companies, by not storing company-specific data on a central platform; instead, the platform only acts as an intermediary for the data. The existing cloud-based data storage method has the disadvantage of storing all information centrally, making it difficult to guarantee companies' trade secrets.
Minister An said, "Carbon regulations are being used not only for climate response but also as a means of protectionism, causing difficulties for companies on the ground," and added, "If we fail to properly respond to the carbon regulations of major countries, export disruptions are a concern." He also emphasized, "It is time to move beyond passive regulatory responses and actively seek solutions."
Chairman Chey stated, "If we fail to properly respond to carbon neutrality, it will become a major obstacle to exports in key overseas markets such as the European Union (EU) and the United States," and said, "To support proactive carbon reduction efforts, policies should shift from regulation to incentive-based approaches, and efforts should be made to encourage the emergence of related innovative technologies."
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