SK Innovation steps up carbon offset, green investments

SK Innovation Co., the refinery and chemicals unit of South Korea’s second-largest conglomerate SK, is poised to strengthen its eco-friendly businesses to achieve its net zero targets.

Kim Jun, vice chairman and CEO at SK Innovation, said on Feb. 6 the company will buy carbon credits and create forests to offset 480 million tons of carbon by 2062. The amount equals what the firm has emitted since its inception in 2007.

The company will enhance its corporate value through the expansion of green investments, the CEO said. As part of its portfolio restructuring, SK Innovation will ramp up businesses of electric vehicle batteries, plastic recycling and lithium-ion battery recycling.

It will also accelerate its production of clean energy and securing recycle value chains. The company will expand collaborations with global tech firms as well as step up in-house research and development.

The SK unit will use Open Innovation Post, a Silicon Valley-based center for joint R&D, as a hub for expanding global partnerships in green technologies. SK Innovation and US tech advisory firm Silicon Foundry co-established the center last November.

SK Innovation will intensify its risk management with various scenarios amid volatilities in global energy prices and interest rates, as well as a potential economic downturn, the CEO said.

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

Jihyun Kim edited this article.