Joojin Kim

A lawyer by training and one of Asia’s leading climate strategists, Joojin Kim is the Founder and CEO of Solutions for Our Climate (SFOC). The Seoul-based non-profit is one of the region’s most influential voices on energy transition, climate finance and corporate accountability. Rather than focusing solely on emissions, Kim examines the legal, financial and political systems that determine whether high-carbon industries continue to grow or begin to decline.

Before founding SFOC in 2016, Kim built an extensive legal career advising governments, international organisations and major corporations on energy and environmental law. At Kim & Chang, South Korea’s largest law firm, he worked on complex energy transactions, climate litigation and renewable energy projects for clients including Korea Development Bank, Samsung, Macquarie and leading utility companies. He also advised the Presidential Committee on Green Growth, the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, and the Global Green Growth Institute on climate policy, emissions trading and renewable energy regulation. Earlier in his career, he served on South Korea’s delegation to the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.

Kim left corporate law after concluding that the greatest leverage for climate action lies in changing the financial incentives behind them. Under his leadership, SFOC helped drive South Korea’s decision to end public financing for overseas coal projects. Japan and China soon followed with similar commitments. The organisation estimates its work has contributed to the cancellation of more than 4,000 megawatts of planned coal capacity across Asia and the retirement of thousands more within South Korea.

His work has since expanded beyond coal to the wider infrastructure supporting fossil fuels. Joojin Kim has become a leading voice on the role of global shipping in the energy transition. He argues that ports, shipyards, insurers and lenders deserve as much scrutiny as oil and gas producers. He has also challenged the idea that shipping is a peripheral climate issue, showing how financial institutions and industrial policy continue to reinforce dependence on fossil fuels throughout global supply chains.

Today, Kim is leading SFOC’s expansion into Japan and Taiwan. He is applying the same model across East Asia to accelerate renewable energy, reduce dependence on liquefied natural gas and reform policies that continue to favour fossil fuels. His work has earned international recognition, including the Sustainability Leadership A List award. Yet his influence is measured less by accolades than by the policy shifts, investment decisions and institutional changes that continue to reshape the region’s energy future.