Presidential climate body signs agreements with six new participating institutions

[Screenshot of the official Net Zero Challenge X website]
[Screenshot of the official Net Zero Challenge X website]

The Presidential Commission on Carbon Neutrality and Green Growth announced Tuesday it will hold a signing ceremony for new participating institutions in the Net Zero Challenge X program at its Seoul office.

Now in its second year, Net Zero Challenge X is a national carbon neutrality project designed to identify and nurture startups with innovative technologies in greenhouse gas reduction and climate crisis adaptation. The program connects participants to a range of support, including incubation and investment, regulatory sandboxes, public procurement, preferential loans and guarantees, and technology demonstration opportunities.

Six institutions are joining the program for the first time: the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, the Korea Institute of Marine Science and Technology Promotion (KIMST), the Korea Meteorological Administration, the Korea Meteorological Industry Technology Agency (KMI), Seoul National University and Korea Water Resources Corporation (K-water). Each institution will draw on its own startup support capabilities and public infrastructure to help climate technology companies grow.

The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries and KIMST will run a startup and investment support program targeting pre-founders and early-stage companies in the marine new industries sector, offering seed funding, education and mentoring, investor matching, promotional marketing and market access development. They will also help companies bring new technologies to market through regulatory sandbox linkages and provide shared access to infrastructure for technology demonstration.

The Korea Meteorological Administration and KMI will operate a startup growth support program for pre-founders and early-stage companies in the weather and climate sector, providing office space, shared facilities, commercialization support, industrial property rights assistance, capacity-building and mentoring, and networking opportunities. The two agencies will also support climate tech companies in building a growth foundation through investor relations education and investment institution matching.

Seoul National University will host a Climate Tech Startup Competition to identify and support innovative tech startups with strong potential societal impact in the climate technology field. Selected companies will receive technology consulting from SNU laboratories, access to the university's own startup support programs, investor relations and networking opportunities, and chances to collaborate on open innovation initiatives with external organizations, including GS Group affiliates.

K-water will provide startup incubation programs in the water industry sector along with support for domestic water management field demonstration testing. The corporation also plans to link selected Net Zero Challenge X companies to its K-Testbed public infrastructure-based technology demonstration program to support both technology validation and market expansion.

Lee Chang-hoon, the commission's civilian co-chair, said Net Zero Challenge X is "a flagship platform that supports the growth of innovative climate tech companies through public-private cooperation," adding that he expects "the ecosystem supporting climate tech startups to expand further through this new round of institutional agreements."

Selection schedules and support details for all 40 participating institutions in 2026, including the newly added organizations, are available on the Net Zero Challenge X integrated website and on each participating institution's own website.


thlee@heraldcorp.com