01/06/2026
The Australia-Korea Business Council (AKBC) welcomes the announcement that Low Emission Technology Australia (LETA) will provide A$1 million in co-funding for a world first South Korean project that captures CO2 from a coal-fired power station and converts it into high value materials used in EV batteries and semiconductors.
The “Coal2Carbon” initiative, led by Korean energy company SGC Energy in Gunsan, represents an important example of how Australia and Korea can work together to accelerate industrial decarbonisation while also supporting emerging critical minerals and advanced manufacturing supply chains.
The project aims to convert captured CO2 into carbon nanotubes and graphite, materials increasingly critical to next generation lithium ion batteries, semiconductors and advanced technologies. If successfully commercialised at scale, initiatives like this have the potential to transform how industries think about carbon, not simply as an emissions challenge, but as a future industrial input.
This announcement also highlights the growing strategic alignment between Australia and Korea across clean energy, critical minerals, battery value chains and low emissions technology development. As both countries continue to pursue industrial decarbonisation and economic resilience, bilateral collaboration in commercially scalable technologies will become increasingly important.
AKBC continues to support stronger Australia-Korea partnerships across clean energy, advanced manufacturing, CCS, critical minerals and future focused industrial technologies that strengthen long term bilateral economic cooperation.
We congratulate LETA, SGC Energy and all project partners on this innovative initiative and look forward to seeing further Australia-Korea collaboration in next generation low emissions technologies.
Read more here: https://letaustralia.com.au/media-releases/australian-coal-industry-backs-world-first-korean-project-turning-co2-into-ev-battery-materials/
