TED Talks Daily - How to clean up the world's dirtiest industry | Joojin Kim

Episode Date: September 21, 2026

Climate strategist Joojin Kim spent years convincing banks across South Korea to stop funding coal, and it worked. Now he's aiming that same playbook at a new target: maritime shipping, a hidden engine of the global economy — and one of the world's dirtiest industries. He breaks down how the whole system converges in one place and why redirecting finance could transform it into a driver of a clean economy worldwide. (This ambitious idea is part of The Audacious Project, TED's initiative to inspire and fund global change.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day. I'm your host, Elise Hu. When you picture the fight against climate change, do cargo ships come to mind? Perhaps not. But climate strategist, Jujin Kim, says decarbonizing shipping, the way the world moves its cargo, may be one of these single most powerful things we can do for the climate. If shipping was a country, it would be the single, the single thing. largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world.

In this talk, Jujin, who leads an organization called Solutions for Our Climate, explains why shipping is such a climate problem on three fronts. The fossil fuels these ships carry, the dirty fuel they burn, and even the coal-made steel they're built from.

It all adds up to an enormous source of emissions, largely out of sight. Shipping is not a side issue in the climate crisis. It is one of the biggest hit and levers in the entire climate fight. He says the whole story. system converges in one place, East Asia and South Korea especially where the ships, the steel, and the financing behind them are concentrated. Squeeze that choke point, Jujan argues, and you

could unlock a faster energy transition across the entire globe. His team has done it before with coal, and now they're coming for shipping. Stick around after the talk to hear from Ted's Haseba Hock on what she saw when she visited Jujan's team in Seoul and why his approach to leadership left such a mark on her. That's coming up right after a short break. And now our TED Talk of the day. For those of us who are worried about climate change, it's no doubt challenging times. It feels like the end of the light of the tunnel gets further as companies and governments pull back. And I get it. It's hard to feel motivated with headlines like these. But that is not the full story. In reality,

a shift towards a climate solution-based economy is already underway. Not just because it protects the climate, but because it's becoming more profitable, more practical, and more affordable. Despite all the setbacks, we will solve this problem. However, we have to be strategic. We cannot solve every climate problem at once. We have to identify the systems that can unlock many others. The places where one smart move can create ripple effects across the entire economy.

One of the most strategic, most powerful, but also most overlooked of those systems, is shipping. If shipping was a country, it would be the sixth largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world. Many of these ships aren't just powered by fossil fuels, they're built with fossil fuels, and they transport fossil fuels. Maritime shipping is a climate problem on three fronts. Three. One, for the cargo it carries. Crude oil and gas account for roughly one-third of maritime trade. Around half of natural gas is shipped in a liquefied form called LNG.

An LNG trade has doubled during the past decade. Two, because of the fuel, ships burn. Most ships still burn heavy fuel oils, or increasingly LNG, which releases carbon dioxide and methane, a dirty super pollutant that accelerates climate change and air pollution. Three, because of the steel ships are made of. Most steel is made using dirty coal. Steel production is responsible for another 8% of global emissions.

So shipping is not a side issue in the climate crisis. It is one of the biggest hidden levers in the entire climate fight. A system if pulled the right way, which can unlock a faster energy transition. It's tempting to think of oceans as diffused and decentralized, but when it comes to ships, their supply chains converge in one place. East Asia, South Korea in particular, dominates global shipbuilding,

steel production for ships, and the public finance behind them. And we are now at a critical moment with Asia as a key leverage point. The world has experienced how volatile fossil fuels are, with the war in Ukraine. Again, we are experiencing the same with the war in the Middle East. Right now, East Asian economies are making a decision.

Do we keep funding fossil fuels or pivot towards offshore wind installation vessels, green ammonia tankers, or ships made with clean steel? Because clean options don't scale just because they exist. They scale when policy, finance, and regulation align to make clean attractive. My organization, Solutions for our climate, works to do just that. And we're no beginner here. We've done it before with coal. From behind the scenes international negotiations to grassroots communities,

from courtrooms to hilarious videos portraying dismal climate facts, we know what message to put in front of who, how, and when. Our work actually contributed to ending coal financing by the East Asian coal giants. And now we're ready to take on shipping. the same way. First, we expose emissions, policy gaps, financial risks. Take LNG transportation. Global LNG trade depends entirely on ships. Each LNG carrier ship costs $250 million, takes three years to build, and locks in decades of emissions. The system is surprisingly concentrated. 70% of these ships are built in one country, one country, South Korea.

In 2022 alone, in one year, South Korean government banks provided more than $10 billion of financing for these ships. The technology around these ships are monopolized by a handful of companies. So this isn't just a business story. It's a political and financial choke point. Second, we redirect capital. and governments away from fossil expansion. If we cut the financing of these ships,

we will limit LNG expansion. Our aim is simple. Make LNG a no-investment zone. We're asking private banks to end the financing of these ships. We're pushing Asian lenders to adopt exclusion policies. Third, we build markets, demands, and rules for clean alternatives. The technology for clean steel or green shipping fuels is already here. What's missing is the supply chains and demand to meet it.

Our push for finance, regulations, and infrastructure will change this. That means building clean fuel supply chains, creating new demand through green shipping corridors between ports. Over time, renewable rich regions will replace oil refineries as shipping fuel production hubs. We apply the same approach for clean steel. Green hydrogen will replace the role, coal served, in steelmaking.

This isn't just aspirational. The work is already underway. We've already convinced four European banks to exit from a major LNG project in Mozambique. We've blocked new coal-based steel investments. We've secured financial support for hydrogen-based steel mills. We're doing the work and building the momentum. And now we will supercharge it through Navigate to Clean,

a new initiative to clean up maritime shipping. With the generous support of the community of audacious donors, we will turn shipping from a conduit of dirty trade to a driver of clean trade. We are a team of marketers, diplomats, lawyers, shipping experts. We're a regional organization with global reach. We know the system and how to move it. We've done it with coal, and we can do it with,

shipping. It is difficult times, yes. But with the right strategy and leverage, we can eliminate up to 2.2 gigatons of emissions per year by 2032. That's almost one years of emissions of the entire European Union. This is not a marginal fix. This is not tinkering at the edges. This is what it looks like to move a hidden engine of the global economy and the climate movement with it. We're playing chess, not checkers, and we're here to win. Thank you. You were listening to Jujin Kim at TED, 2026. This ambitious idea is part of the Audacious Project, Ted's initiative to inspire and fund global change. Learn more at audaciousproject.org, and now here's Ted curator Haseba Hock on how watching clean steel get made left her feeling hopeful and why a subject

she never expected to care about has changed the way she thinks about climate solutions. Hey, everybody, thanks for listening to Jujin's talk. I'm Haseba, and I work at The Audacious Project at TED. And before you go, I wanted to jump in and share a little bit more about Jujin, his talk, and the work that they do and why we're so excited to have shared this talk with you today.

I'll be honest, I did not think decarbonizing shipping would be something I would be remotely passionate about, but it is one of the most fascinating things I've learned about in this past year. I actually had the privilege of traveling to Seoul in Korea to learn from Jujan and its team and see the work up close. And it was just incredible to really understand the pieces of shipping and how much it is contributing to fossil fuels. I had no idea that shipping was mostly concentrated in Korea. And being able to see the work that they did with coal, being able to see and learn how steel is made and what making clean steel looks like, being able to see ships and learning about LNGs and understanding how that's contributing to climate change was just really, really cool. And it was really clear seeing the passion of him and his team.

and being able to really dive deep and learn about all of the elements that go into this industry and why it's so critical for us to really think about how to decarbonize it because it's the ship itself, the steel it's used and the gas it uses and what it transports, all of it contributes to climate change. He makes it really clear that this one targeted effort will have ripple effects in a really large industry. and I think the fact that they're able to do this and potentially inspire other people in the climate change world is awesome. And the fact that you get to hear from him and understand how shipping works is also pretty cool.

I came back from Korea super excited about Jujin, the team at SFOC, and passionate about decarbonizing shipping. And it is not an idea I would have ever thought of. My mind was totally blown. In true TED fashion, Jujin and his team are showing us something that most of us probably haven't even thought about. And so I'm really glad you got to hear this today and learn more from Jujan

and be able to see sort of the hidden things that are moving beyond what's in front of us and how the world is shifting and what we can do about it. If you're curious about Ted's curation, visit ted.com slash curation guidelines. And that's it for today. Ted Talks Daily is a podcast from TED. This episode was fact-checked by the TED Research Team and produced and edited by our team.

Martha Estefanos, Oliver Friedman, Lucy Little, Emma Tobner, and Tonzica, Sungmar Nivong. Additional support from Daniela Ballereseo, Christopher Faisi Bogan, Valentina Bohanini, Ban Ban-Chang, Brian Green, and Laney Lott. Learn more at podcasts.com.com. I am Elise Hupe. I'll be back tomorrow with a fresh idea for your feet. Thanks for listening.