As global demands for addressing the climate crisis and building a sustainable economy intensify, the importance of climate technologies is becoming prominent in the transition to a carbon neutral economy where net carbon emissions are 'zero'. Climate technologies are technologies that reduce greenhouse gases and adapt to climate change while generating economic returns, serving as a key element supporting the transition to carbon neutrality. Climate technology innovation provides opportunities to minimize economic contraction and create new growth engines during the transition.
[Key Finding 1] Korea Ranked Third Globally in Climate Tech Innovation by Patent Counts
Comparing major countries' climate technology innovation performance based on patent application numbers, Korea showed quantitatively favorable results. Analysis of patents registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office shows that Korea's climate technology patent applications ranked third globally between 2011-21, placing it among the world's top tier. Even after adjusting for population size, Korea recorded 1.6 patents per 10,000 people, ranking fourth globally after Luxembourg (3.0), Japan (2.3), and Switzerland (2.2). Furthermore, while the United States and Japan have shown stagnation or decline since the early to mid-2010s, Korea has continued to increase steadily until recently.
Korea's innovation performance in the climate technology sector has been increasing at a faster pace compared to other technological fields, reflecting the global trend of intensified responses to the climate crisis. Analyzing the share of climate technologies within total patent applications by country, the average for the top 10 leading countries rose from 2.4% in 2001 to 4.0% in 2010 but slightly declined to 3.8% in 2021. In contrast, Korea's share steadily increased from 1.2% in 2001 to 3.0% in 2011, reaching 5.0% in 2021.
[Key Finding 2] Climate Tech Innovation Highly Concentrated in Few Companies and Technologies
The top four companies in Korea accounted for 72.1% of climate tech patent applications (as of 2021), significantly exceeding the average of 29.7% among the top 10 leading countries.
Korea's climate tech innovation also exhibited striking concentration patterns across technological fields. Analysis of climate tech patent applications by technology field from 2011-21 shows that renewable energy (7%) dominated in energy supply technologies, secondary batteries (44%) in enabling technologies, and electric vehicles (7%) and information and communication technology (ICT, 7%) in end-use technologies.
Notably, Korea shows significantly low innovation performance in both carbon-intensive core export industries and promising climate tech fields that require active innovation promotion. The refinery, chemical, and steel industries accounted for 8.2%, 7.2%, and 5.6% of export customs clearance respectively in 2023, establishing themselves as key export industries following semiconductors (15.6%) and automobiles (11.2%). However, these are carbon-intensive industries that contributed 10.6%, 23.2%, and 35.5% respectively to total industrial greenhouse gas emissions as of 2022. Nevertheless, Korea remains at relatively low levels in terms of global patent application shares for carbon reduction technologies in chemical, refinery, and steel industries, as well as in Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) technologies.
[Key Finding 3] Climate Tech Innovation Quality Remains Inadequate
Comparative analysis of climate technology patent quality across countries from 2011-21 shows that Korea exhibits significant deficiencies in subsequent impact (forward citations per patent), originality, and generality.
Even in Korea's core technology areas such as secondary batteries, electric vehicles, and renewable energy, most qualitative patent evaluation indicators remained in the lower ranks among the top 10 leading countries (countries with the highest number of patent applications), showing significantly inadequate qualitative competitiveness compared to quantitative performance. These findings suggest that Korea's climate technology innovation has focused primarily on incremental innovations aimed at defending market share or countering competitors, rather than pursuing disruptive innovations that create new products or markets.