Korean eco-friendly companies are moving to tap the Chinese market as demand for green transition grows across major industries such as automobiles and bio.
KOTRA said Thursday that it held the "2026 China Tianjin Environmental Industry Export Consultation" in Tianjin, China, that day, jointly with the Korea Environmental Industry Association.
After being designated as a construction site for a "National Green Development Demonstration Zone" that will pursue citywide greening by 2035, Tianjin has been accelerating the eco-friendly transformation of its overall infrastructure, including smart water treatment and carbon reduction. The city has also announced a plan to invest $7.2 billion (about 10.9972 trillion won) in updating environmental infrastructure facilities to improve its ultrafine dust concentration, which is 30% higher than the Chinese average.
In line with this demand, 11 Korean environmental technology firms participated in the event and held export consultations with 25 Chinese buyers in the fields of low-carbon management, energy reduction, and digital water treatment equipment and solutions. Among them, two companies that produce sludge reduction dewatering systems and smart water quality measuring instruments signed agent contracts and memorandums of understanding (MOUs).
An official from a Chinese company attending the consultation said, "We are currently preparing bids for projects ordered by Chinese state-owned enterprises, and Korean products are recognized for their competitiveness in terms of technology and operational stability, so we hope to cooperate."
Following the consultation, government bodies and related agencies from both countries — including the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment, the Korea Environmental Technology Research Institute, the Tianjin Ecological Environment Bureau, and the Environmental Protection Association — held meetings to discuss ways to expand cooperation and exchange in the environmental industry.
Hwang Jae-won, head of KOTRA's China Regional Headquarters, stressed, "The Chinese government is pursuing green transition as a key task across industry and urban operations as a whole, and opportunities for related companies to enter the market are growing." He added, "We will do our best to identify business demand and connect partners so that our companies can seize new opportunities."
