SK Chemicals obtains highest ESG rating among listed companies

SK Chemicals obtained the highest grade in a recent ESG (environmental, social, and governance) rating evaluation of 1,033 listed companies, the company said on Wednesday.

According to a report on the "2022 ESG Evaluation and Rating of Listed Companies" announced by the Korea Institute of Corporate Governance and Sustainability (KCGS), SK Chemicals won the highest rating of A+, a step up from last year, which refers to the top 0.5% among the evaluated.

KCGS, as South Korea's leading ESG rating agency, evaluates the ESG management of domestic listed companies and unlisted financial services firms every year and announces their ratings.

SK Chemicals explained that the elevation of the environmental sector by one notch from an A grade last year to an A+ this year contributed to an overall rating increase. It received positive reviews for taking climate change countermeasures such as building a 2040 carbon-neutral strategy and publishing the first Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).

SK Chemicals said that it was highly evaluated for its transition to eco-friendly business throughout the business environment; it recycled and converted products into eco-friendly materials such as biomaterials, changed factory fuels with hydrogen, and installed more solar power cells.

In addition, its social (S) and governance (G) sectors received A+ and A grades, respectively, the same as last year for its efforts to strengthen board-centered management and assign ESG tasks to CEO and executive performance indicators, SK Chemical explained.

Based on the carbon-neutral strategy established this year, SK Chemicals aims to join and obtain approval for the SBTi (Science-based Carbon Reduction Target Initiative) next year.

Write to Seo-Woo Jang at suwu@hankyung.com