Beyond Financed Emissions:
Moving to Transition Finance in Practice

Seminar “Beyond Financed Emissions: Moving to Transition Finance in Practice,” National Assembly, July 7, 2026

On July 7, 2026, a seminar titled “Beyond Financed Emissions: Moving to Transition Finance in Practice” was held at the National Assembly in Korea. Co-hosted by Rep. Kim Hyun-jung and the Korea Sustainability Investing Forum (PCAF-KOREA), the event featured three presentations, an introduction to the PCAF Standard, transition-finance implementation strategies for Korea’s financial sector, and data-driven risk-management approaches, followed by a panel discussion on advancing transition finance in Korea.

        Opening Remarks

Opening remarks by Chun Seung Yang, Executive Director, Korea Sustainability Investing Forum

The event opened with remarks from Chun Seung Yang, Executive Director of the Korea Sustainability Investing Forum. “What isn’t measured cannot be managed, and what isn’t managed cannot be reduced,” he noted, adding that PCAF marked an important milestone by providing a common language for understanding the carbon emissions that follow the flow of capital. He emphasized that the sector must now move beyond simply calculating financed emissions toward mobilizing the real economy to deliver a low-carbon transition.

         Congratulatory Remarks

Congratulatory remarks by Rep. Hyun Jung Kim, Democratic Party of Korea

Congratulatory remarks followed. Rep. Hyun Jung Kim of the Democratic Party of Korea underscored the role of finance in supporting the transition of high-carbon industries. He noted that for core manufacturers in steel, chemicals, automobiles and other sectors to fully transform into low-carbon, environmentally sound businesses in step with global environmental regulation, large-scale capital investment and funding for technology development are essential. For transition finance to expand on a stable footing, he argued, market participants need clear, credible guidelines and a solid policy foundation.

Joint congratulatory remarks by Kyung Nam Kim, Executive Managing Director, KB Financial Group (Chair, PCAF-KOREA)

A joint congratulatory address followed by Kyung Nam Kim, Executive Managing Director of KB Financial Group, who chairs PCAF-KOREA. Reflecting that the concept of financed emissions, unfamiliar at the time of PCAF-KOREA’s launch, has now become standard language across the financial sector, she assessed that institutions’ practical capacity to measure financed emissions accurately and disclose them transparently has steadily strengthened. She said finance must serve as a bridge for the transition: supplying capital at the right time and supporting systematic roadmaps so that carbon-intensive companies can transform into environmentally sound ones.

         Presentation I — Updates on PCAF Standards and the Broader Financed Emissions Lnadscape

Speaker: Tiange Wei, Head of Asia-Pacific, PCAF

The first presentation was delivered by Tiange Wei, Head of Asia-Pacific at PCAF. Her core message was that measuring financed emissions is no longer a mere reporting exercise but has become a strategic imperative for financial institutions. PCAF is focused on securing alignment with major global reporting frameworks, including IFRS S1·S2, the GHG Protocol and the CSRD, and she stressed that PCAF works in cooperation with regulators rather than in competition with them. Wei closed by quoting the proverb, “If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.”

         Presentation II — Transition Finance Implementation Strategies for Korea’s Financial Sector

Speaker: Ji Hyun Kim, Research Fellow, Hana Institute of Finance

The second presentation, by Ji Hyun Kim, Research Fellow at the Hana Institute of Finance, focused on domestic transition-finance market trends, regulatory changes and implementation cases from global banks. She assessed that, with transition finance guidelines now finalized, transition finance is emerging within Korea’s financial sector as a key agenda that will expand the corporate and investment banking markets over the next decade.

She set out three success principles of global banks: (1) building ESG assessment models that reflect science-based transition pathways for carbon-intensive industries (2) building transition partnerships with clients, and (3) scaling transition finance pilots. She also noted that, given the enormous capital needs of high-carbon sectors, there are many cases of blended finance drawing on policy finance and government guarantees.

        Presentation III — Transition Finance Risk Management and Implementation Using S&P Data

Speaker: Young Jin Lee, Sustainability Director, S&P Global Sustainable 1

The third presentation, by Young Jin Lee, Sustainability Director at S&P Global Sustainable 1, introduced approaches to transition-finance risk management from a data perspective. She noted that S&P Global Sustainable 1 has entered a partnership with PCAF to pursue synergies between its data capabilities and the PCAF Standard. S&P holds emissions data on more than 30,000 listed companies and over 4.5 million private companies, and she highlighted its bottom-up data structure enabling portfolio analysis and its transparent methodology as key strengths. Because the financial industry has the highest Scope 3 share of any sector, around 99%, she emphasized that measuring financed emissions is especially important.

         Panel Discussion

Moderator: Prof. Hyeong Na Oh, Kyung Hee University

Following the three presentations, a panel discussion was moderated by Prof. Hyeong Na Oh of Kyung Hee University. Panelists included Song Yi Lee, Deputy Director at the Financial Services Commission; Dr. Si Hyung Lee, at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry; and Tae Han Kim, COO at the Korea Sustainability Investing Forum, joined by presenters Tiange Wei, and Young Jin Kim. Together they discussed concrete methodologies and challenges for putting Korea’s transition finance into practice.

The discussion emphasized the need to advance financed-emissions calculation by asset class and to prioritize the application of country-specific data. Panelists further noted that resolving the funding difficulties of high-carbon sectors requires more than simply supplying capital, it calls for creating genuine market demand for low-carbon products and putting incentives in place. There was also agreement that preventing transition-washing requires establishing clear taxonomy criteria, alongside feasibility assessments of companies’ transition plans and systems to monitor implementation after the fact.

The conversation went on to raise the need for a cooperative governance model, built on blended-finance structures that organically combine public and private capital, that extends to small and medium-sized enterprises within the supply chain. Audience and panelists offered in-depth suggestions, in particular on organic support to help SMEs set science-based (SBTi) targets, and on the urgency of transforming the systems used to manage financial institutions’ concentrated exposure to fossil-fuel investments.

The panelists concluded by reaffirming that the true essence of transition finance is not the passive step of simply lowering the emissions figures in a financial institution’s portfolio but preventing high-carbon lock-in and driving real, economy-wide emissions reductions.

        Closing

This seminar served as an important signal of a paradigm shift, moving beyond carbon accounting as a mere response to regulation toward an “implementation-focused transition finance” that can drive genuine structural change in Korean industry. Building on the insights gathered today from experts and audience members across many fields, the Korea Sustainability Investing Forum (PCAF-KOREA) will take the lead in developing, beyond standard-setting, effective implementation-monitoring systems and risk-management approaches. We will ensure that this event, prepared together with the office of Rep. Hyun Jung Kim, is not a one-off discussion, and we will continue to serve as a steadfast bridge so that Korean financial institutions and companies can secure sustainable competitiveness amid the great transition toward Net-zero.

Inquiries:  mileysong@kosif.org