SK Inc. gets highest AAA grade in MSCI's ESG rating

SK Inc., SK Group's investment arm, won the highest AAA ratings from both Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) and the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI), both of which are environmental, social, and governance (ESG) rating agencies.

The company said on Tuesday that it received its first AAA rating, the highest grade among ESG management evaluations, from MSCI.

The AAA rating is a status given only to the top 7% of 3,077 companies under evaluation, and only two Korean companies, including SK Inc., received this rating this year. Earlier in 2020 and 2021, the company obtained an AA grade.

SK Inc. has aggressively invested in carbon-neutral technologies such as hydrogen, small module nuclear power plants, and sustainable food in compliance with Chairman Chey Tae-won's ESG management policy.

To strengthen the control of the board of directors, the company implemented a governance innovation strategy called "Governance Story," and introduced a shareholder return policy that buys back more than 1% of the company's market capitalization every year. This was the basis for getting a high score in the governance area.

Separately, SK Inc. was included in the World Index for 11 consecutive years in the DJSI evaluation announced by S&P Global earlier this month. DJSI reviewed 2,555 companies across the world this year, and only 326 companies, or 12% in total, were incorporated in the World Index. Twenty-four Korean companies were included, and SK Inc. ranked first with the highest score among conglomerates.

Last month, the company received an A+ for three years in a row from the Korea Institute of Corporate Governance and Sustainability, a domestic rating agency.

"We are making diverse efforts to create stakeholder value by reflecting ESG strategies in our management activities as an investment company and creating an ESG online platform," said Park Dong-joo, head of portfolio planning at SK Inc.

Write to Ik-Hwan Kim at lovepen@hankyung.com