기후변화에 의한 무역기술장벽의 환경보호 특성: 한국의 주요 수출시장 비교 연구

Climate Change and Environmental Protection through Technical Barriers to Trade: A Comparative Analysis of Korea's Major Export Markets

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine how climate change responses are institutionalized through environmental protection-oriented Technical Barriers to Trade (TBTs) within the global trade regime, by comparing the patterns and characteristics of such measures across Korea’s export markets. Based on this analysis, the study derives policy implications for Korean exporting firms. Research design, data, and methodology: This study analyzes TBT notifications submitted to the World Trade Organization (WTO) by Korea’s major export markets-the United States, China, the European Union (EU), and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The data were collected from the ePing SPS & TBT Platform, focusing on TBT notifications related to environmental protection and climate change. Text analysis was conducted using n-gram analysis and the phi coefficient to identify frequently occurring environmental issues and to compare the associative structure of regulatory topics across export markets. Results: The results indicate that across all four major export markets, energy efficiency, chemical substance management, and product safety are frequently addressed issues in environmental protection-oriented TBTs. This suggests that environmental regulation has become an important subject of discussion within the global trade framework, regardless of countries’ levels of economic development. At the same time, differences were observed in the scope and emphasis of regulations across export markets. In the United States, technical standards related to energy conservation in industrial and construction sectors were relatively emphasized, while China showed a strong focus on energy efficiency standards and labeling requirements centered on the manufacturing sector. The European Union exhibited a high frequency of regulations related to chemical management and carbon emissions, whereas ASEAN countries showed a greater emphasis on basic environmental regulations such as air pollution reduction and vehicle emission control. Implications: This study contributes to the literature by complementing existing single-country case studies and notification-count-based analyses through a comparative examination of environmental TBT characteristics across multiple major export markets. Methodologically, the study demonstrates the usefulness of treating TBT notifications as textual data, enabling a more systematic identification of key regulatory issues and policy focuses. From a policy perspective, the findings suggest that Korean exporting firms should consider not only tariff barriers but also market-specific characteristics of environmental TBTs when formulating product design, technology development, and certification strategies.