Mapping the Future of Industry with Catalysts: Heesung Catalysts’ Journey Toward Carbon Neutrality
2025.08.14
🔍 As the severity of the climate crisis becomes increasingly evident, achieving carbon neutrality is no longer a choice. It is a shared global imperative. In the midst of the monumental challenges of energy transition and greenhouse gas reduction, industries around the world are pursuing fundamental technological innovation.
Heesung Catalysts is responding to this challenge with environmentally friendly catalyst technologies. By developing and commercializing catalyst solutions that reduce emissions across the value chain, the company has strengthened both its ESG management and its foundation for sustainable growth. Guided by the vision and experience of CEO Hyun-Sik Han, who has led the catalyst industry for more than 40 years, Heesung Catalysts has built an innovation system that seamlessly connects research, production, and business operations.
This article explores the global momentum toward carbon neutrality, the role of catalyst technology, and the bold vision of Heesung Catalysts and CEO Han, as featured in the August “Environmental Industry” section of alchedek.
Carbon Neutrality as a Global Standard
Currently, 17 countries including the EU have legislated carbon neutrality: Canada, Germany, Denmark, Spain, France, the UK, Hungary, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Norway, New Zealand, Portugal, Sweden, Guatemala, and the Netherlands. Uruguay has set the earliest target year of 2030, followed by Finland in 2035, Iceland and Austria in 2040, and Sweden and Germany in 2045. In contrast, China and India have pledged to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060 and 2070. Among countries that have made such declarations, 44% target 2041 to 2050, while 55% aim for post-2050.
The momentum is not limited to governments. Major global corporations such as Apple, Google, and BMW have committed to 100% renewable energy use. As of November 2021, 342 leading companies worldwide have joined this movement, encouraging many of their suppliers to follow suit.
Financial institutions are also driving change. BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, has named climate risk and sustainability as top investment priorities. JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs have declared an end to coal financing, and the global financial market is increasingly placing greenhouse gas reduction at the forefront of investment strategies.
Catalysts: A Key Solution for Achieving Carbon Neutrality
In Korea, 86.9% of greenhouse gas emissions (as of 2018) come from the energy sector, making decarbonization through energy transition a critical challenge. While improving energy efficiency and switching to cleaner fuels are important, these measures alone cannot address emissions generated directly from industrial processes such as the physical and chemical reactions in manufacturing. More fundamental solutions are needed, and one of the most effective is precision control technology based on catalysts.
Catalyst technology accelerates chemical reactions, allowing desired outcomes at lower temperatures and under milder conditions. When applied to industrial processes, it can selectively and efficiently break down or convert greenhouse gases, significantly reducing direct (Scope 1) emissions. Lower reaction temperatures also reduce energy consumption, which in turn cuts indirect (Scope 2) emissions from electricity use.
Heesung Catalysts: Leading the Way to a Sustainable Future
With its advanced, eco-friendly catalyst technologies, Heesung Catalysts delivers solutions that reduce greenhouse gases across the entire value chain. By lowering Scope 1 emissions in its own production processes, the company also helps customers reduce Scope 3 emissions throughout their supply chains. This means that reductions achieved at Heesung Catalysts’s production stage have a ripple effect across customer operations.
From automotive exhaust purification catalysts to environmental catalysts, chemical process catalysts, and electrode catalysts for the hydrogen economy, Heesung Catalysts offers a broad portfolio of tailored solutions that are helping industries transition to a low-carbon future.
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Catalyst Solutions Driven by Customer Needs and Completed Through Innovation
At Heesung Catalysts, understanding customer requirements and developing technologies that meet them is a core value. The company goes beyond manufacturing catalysts, striving to understand the operating environments and overall systems in which catalysts are applied. For example, it has built its own automotive emissions testing systems to verify performance under real-world conditions.
Heesung Catalysts believes that a catalyst is only meaningful when it serves as a solution to a customer’s challenge. This philosophy drives its focus on developing “catalyst solutions,” not just catalysts. Recognizing that catalyst applications are often difficult to predict in the early development stage and that commercialization takes time, the company takes a long-term approach, closely monitoring market trends and future demand. It operates a continuous improvement cycle in which products are refined through field application and feedback.
These efforts have earned high recognition from customers, including the prestigious “Grand Quality 5 Star” award from Hyundai Motor and Kia, granted only to suppliers that meet the highest standards in quality stability, production process management, and customer satisfaction.
A Roadmap for Sustainable Growth Through ESG
In 2024, Heesung Catalysts launched the “Magellan Project,” a mid-to-long-term strategy aimed at achieving carbon neutrality and sustainable growth by 2030. CEO Han views carbon neutrality not only as a national mandate but also as a business opportunity, leveraging the company’s diverse catalyst technologies to achieve this goal.
These technologies do more than perform a single function. They reduce energy use, enhance reaction efficiency, and lower overall emissions. In Korea’s manufacturing-intensive economy, where process-related emissions are high, such solutions are essential and form a strong foundation for future growth. In its first year, the Magellan Project delivered meaningful results, and the company plans to continue driving it as a core growth strategy.
Leading Through Connection and Innovation
The direction of Heesung Catalysts’ ESG management and technological innovation reflects CEO Han’s leadership philosophy. With over 40 years of experience in the catalyst industry, he has a deep understanding of every stage of its evolution.
Since taking the helm in 2024, Han, who has served as both head of R&D and plant director, has drawn on his background as the first in the industry to successfully commercialize catalyst technology after earning his doctorate. Beginning his research at KAIST, he has spent decades advancing catalyst technologies for automotive, marine, environmental, and petrochemical applications, contributing significantly to Korea’s self-reliance in industrial catalysts.
Today, Han emphasizes the importance of an interconnected organization where R&D, production, and business work toward their respective goals while collaborating closely. He believes that true value is created not by simply adding up individual achievements, but by maximizing organizational connectivity and efficiency, a principle that continues to guide his leadership.
Heesung Catalysts is advancing sustainable growth through ESG management, technological innovation, and customized solutions that reduce emissions across industries. Through the Magellan Project and the steadfast leadership of CEO Han, the company continues to strengthen both its technological competitiveness and organizational capabilities.
The bold vision and ambitious initiatives of Heesung Catalysts and CEO Han are featured in the August “Environmental Industry” section of alchedek.
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