Given the growing importance of climate technology and its early stage of industrial development, the Korean government has supported climate-tech small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through various policy measures, including credit guarantees. Although the extant literature argues that government financial support plays an important role in the growth of high-tech firms, research has been limited on the impacts of government financial support on company growth in the context of the climate-related industry. Using a sample of 582 climate-tech SMEs in Korea, this study explores the moderating effects of credit guarantees on the relationship between patents and firms’ sales growth as well as their direct effects on growth. This study found that credit guarantees and patent registration have positive effects on the increase in sales volume. Additionally, credit guarantees appear to weaken the relationship between patent registration and the sales growth rate. Based on these findings, we propose that, to develop the climate-technology industry, the voluntary innovation efforts of enterprises should be encouraged and credit guarantees should be provided for SMEs. In terms of managerial interventions, the government should especially avoid providing excessive benefits.

With the continuous increase in global greenhouse gas emissions and the spread of natural disasters caused by global warming, the international community’s attention and efforts to respond to the deepening climate change crisis are increasing. To contribute to the sustainable development of the Paris Agreement and global carbon reduction, major countries have submitted their NDCs (Nationally Determined Contributions) and are striving to achieve their respective carbon neutrality targets. Korea is the 13th largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world, emitting about 727 Mt of greenhouse gases in 2018, and its renewable energy generation ratio is relatively low compared to OECD countries. In response, Korea recently submitted the enhanced NDC to the UN to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030 compared to 2018. To achieve this goal, each local government must establish and implement energy policies considering local characteristics and regional energy systems. Korea is composed of 17 local governments, each of which establishes and implements a Local Energy Master Plan over a five-year period. This paper aims to compare and analyze the main contents and goals of each local energy plan and to analyze the achievement rate of reduction of greenhouse gas emission in each region considering the 2030 NDC reduction target. Carbon neutrality is a national and local challenge, and we expect governments and local communities to continue to improve and develop their municipalities through effective implementation of energy policy programs.

This study investigates temporal trends and changes in climate technology cooperation through natural language processing of international organizational news and Korean policy briefings. Documents from 2019 to 2023 were collected based on keywords related to climate change from UNFCCC, CTCN, GCF, and Korean policy briefings. Web scraping, text mining, and community detection-based clustering were performed using packages in R and Python, and quadratic assignment procedure correlation analysis used Ucinet programs. First, this study identified trends and patterns of climate technology cooperation by period, as shown in the news from international organizations (UNFCCC, CTCN, GCF) and Korean policy briefings. UNFCCC news, influenced by COVID-19, shows significant topic distribution changes, reflecting global issue sensitivity. The GCF news maintains stability in climate technology and funding trends. Korean policy briefings demonstrate consistent topic distribution, emphasizing Korean climate policy discussions. Text mining reveals nuanced organizational differences in climate change goals. UNFCCC and CTCN prioritize SDG-focused initiatives, while GCF focuses on financial support for developing countries. Second, this study comprehensively compared and analyzed the climate technology cooperation trends in international organizational news and Korean policy briefings and classified the topics into reduction, adaptation, and general to identify the importance of climate technology cooperation trends. Expert discussions highlight mitigation coverage in Korean briefings and GCF. The GCF news specializes in limited topics with a consistent reporting pattern, while UNFCCC leads diverse climate initiatives. This study unveils news coverage similarities and differences between the Korean government and international organizations, offering valuable insights for global cooperation and policy formulation.