Global Green Growth Week 2026 runs Tuesday through Friday in Seoul's Jeong-dong district; first 'Global Green AI Partnership' talks and debut of Green Growth Competitiveness index planned
The Global Green Growth Institute will hold its annual Global Green Growth Week from Tuesday through Friday in the Jeong-dong area of Jung-gu, Seoul, under the theme "Driving the Green Transition Race: Expanding Technology, Capital and Global Cooperation," the organization announced Monday.
The opening day's "Competitive Green Industries" session will mark the first public unveiling of the Green Growth Competitiveness index, a new diagnostic tool designed to show which countries are leading the global green race.
The GGC index uses country-level data to assess the competitiveness and opportunities of each nation's green industries, helping governments and businesses make investment and policy decisions. GGGI plans to release country rankings based on the index in November, once data reviews for each country are complete.
Also on Tuesday, the "Repricing Capital: Finance, Risk and the Green Transition" session will bring together the Luxembourg Stock Exchange, the University of Oxford's Sustainable Finance Group and Sustainable Fitch to examine how climate and nature risks are being factored into the cost of capital and investment decisions.
That session will be followed by discussions with major multilateral development finance institutions — including the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Central American Bank for Economic Integration and the Credit Guarantee and Investment Facility — on cooperation models linking green project identification with financing and private capital mobilization.
On Wednesday, the Korea Green New Deal Trust Fund forum will convene. Supported by the Ministry of Economy and Finance and operated by GGGI, the forum will bring together national offices from 19 GGGI member countries and 24 domestic public and private institutions to identify investment-ready projects through more than 40 roundtable discussions on topics including AI-based green solutions and carbon finance.
The second summit session on Thursday will share results and expansion plans for the KGNDTF and introduce a new "KGNDTF membership" program designed to continuously connect member-country needs with domestic technologies.
Thursday morning will feature presentations on pilot cases of next-generation climate technologies — including AI semiconductors (NPUs), satellite systems and quantum technology — in developing countries, along with the launch of the "CTAF Member Alliance" bringing together government, business and research institutions.
At the Thursday summit opening ceremony, GGGI will sign MOUs with CGIF, an arm of the ADB, and Thailand's Department of Climate Change and Environment.
The first summit session will open with remarks from Minister of Climate, Environment and Energy Kim Sung-hwan, Luxembourg Stock Exchange CEO Julie Becker and KAIST President Bae Choong-sik, followed by a panel discussion on international cooperation models to accelerate the green transition amid geopolitical fragmentation. Panelists will include Kim Chang-beom, senior vice chairman of the Korea Federation of Enterprises, government representatives from Luxembourg, Qatar, Sri Lanka and Thailand, and the Abdullah Al Ghurair Foundation of the UAE.
The third summit session will address the surge in electricity and water demand driven by the spread of AI as a new challenge for the green transition, and will open consultations on a "Global Green AI Partnership" to respond to it.
Following opening remarks by Luxembourg Minister Serge Wilmes and a keynote address by Ryu Je-myung, second vice minister of the Ministry of Science and ICT, Eom Ji-yong, dean of KAIST's Graduate School of Green Growth and Sustainability, will present projections for AI's electricity, water and carbon footprint through 2050.
The panel discussion will include the International Telecommunication Union, the World Bank Group, German energy company RWE and SK Innovation, covering the full AI value chain — from low-carbon semiconductors and data centers to clean power and grids, cooling and water systems, and the communities hosting data centers. Movilizatorio, a Colombian civic engagement platform, will deliver the closing address.
On Friday, the event will focus on public-private cooperation for industrial decarbonization, exploring pathways for hydrogen-based industrial transition.
GGGI will sign an agreement with Taebaek city and a hydrogen energy partnership with Kazakhstan's Alatau City Development Authority, Caspian and Doosan Enerbility. Discussions will follow on projects including hydrogen co-firing power generation in Alatau, hydrogen mobility in Alberta, green steel in Pohang and green methanol in Taebaek, alongside the launch of joint research with KAIST and Peking University.
Throughout the event, a climate art exhibition will be held at the Jeongdong 1928 Art Center, alongside programs spanning future generations and culture.
The week will open Tuesday with a "Green March," in which GGGI Secretary-General Kim Sang-hyup, ambassadors from various countries and about 50 participants walk Jeong-dong-gil (King's Road) from GGGI headquarters to the Jeongdong 1928 Art Center.
A collaborative patchwork "jogakbo" created by participants will be assembled into an artwork and unveiled at the summit's cultural evening on Thursday.
On Wednesday, a "Youth Mini Town Hall" will bring together Ban Ki-moon, who chairs GGGI, and about 100 young people from South Korea, China and Japan to discuss climate adaptation skills for green transition jobs. A "Green Roundtable" hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will address ocean and Arctic sustainability.
Wednesday's cultural evening will feature a performance by the Chae Su-jeong Sori Group of "Earth Ssitgimgut," a ceremony inspired by the nationally designated intangible heritage ritual Jindo Ssitgimgut, praying for coexistence between humanity and nature, followed by a temple food dinner.
On Thursday, a "Ban Ki-moon Climate Change High-Level Roundtable" will bring together senior officials from South Korea, China, Japan and Indonesia, along with the ADB, to discuss regional climate cooperation in Asia.
Thursday's summit cultural evening will feature a performance of "Golden," the theme song from KPop Demon Hunters, by violinist Son Su-kyung; a gayageum vocal performance by National Intangible Heritage holder Yang Seung-hee and her granddaughter Noh Hyang; a stage appearance by Lee Ji-hoon, runner-up on "Our Ballad"; and a performance by the Woori Financial Group Children's Choir. A trailer for "Song of the Trees" — the first Korean work to win the Prix Italia television documentary grand prize, often called the Oscar of broadcasting — and a video message from director Jin Jae-woon will also be screened.
On Friday, GGGI's 15th General Assembly and 19th Council meeting will convene to vote on a successor to Chairman Ban.
"The green transition has become a race that can no longer be won simply by having good technology," GGGI Secretary-General Kim said. "I hope the international cooperation projects unveiled at GGGW 2026 — including the Green Growth Competitiveness initiative and the Green AI Partnership — will serve as real solutions for countries to build genuine green competitiveness."
thlee@heraldcorp.com
