Statista awards Korean ESG leaders

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

Business

Sat, September 23, 2023 | 14:17

Companies

Major Korean companies awarded for ESG efforts

Posted : 2023-05-25 16:13

Updated : 2023-05-26 09:50

Korea Times President-Publisher Oh Young-jin, front row eighth from left, poses with Thomas Clark, a partner at Statista, front row seventh from left, along with representatives from award-winning companies at Korea's Sustainability Leaders 2023 awards ceremony at the Korea Press Center in Seoul, Thursday. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

By Kim Hyun-bin

The Korea Times held an event to honor companies leading in environment, social and corporate governance (ESG) efforts during an award ceremony hosted jointly by its sister paper, The Hankook Ilbo, and Statista, a German market research firm, at the Korea Press Center in Seoul, Thursday.

Over 30 representatives from Korean companies, including SK hynix, Samsung SDI, LX Hausys and LG Electronics, attended the ceremony to receive the prestigious awards.

Korea Times President-Publisher Oh Young-jin, front row third from right, speaks with Thomas Clark, a partner at Statista, front row fourth from right, during Korea's Sustainability Leaders 2023 awards ceremony at the Korea Press Center in Seoul, Thursday. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

The event was a follow-up to the "Korea's Sustainability Leaders 2023" report, which was released last month by Statista to honor companies that are at the forefront of ESG practices.

For the third consecutive year, the globally renowned research firm worked with The Korea Times and The Hankook Ilbo to conduct research on which companies are leaders in terms of their ESG campaigns.

Korea Times President-Publisher Oh Young-jin emphasized the importance of Korean companies practicing ESG and making their efforts known globally.

Korea Times President-Publisher Oh Young-jin delivers the opening speech during the Korea's Sustainability Leaders 2023 awards ceremony at the Korea Press Center in Seoul, Thursday. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

"The ESG movement is expected to come by storm and we need to prepare. Companies and stakeholders need to abide by the global ESG standards and it is important for these efforts to be highlighted globally," Oh said during his opening speech. "We need to show that our companies are on the same page with the world in terms of environment, social responsibility and governance. This is the reason we are holding the award ceremony today."

Thomas Clark, a partner at Statista, congratulated the award winners for their excellent performance in sustainability and ESG practices.

"I am happy to be here for this occasion because ESG is a very important topic. You are representatives of companies that are very good and at the forefront of ESG. The top 150 is a big deal. It's a huge research project where we look at all the Korean companies. So trust me you can be very proud," Clark said.

In selecting the 150 ESG leaders, Statista's analysts checked the 1,200 largest Korean companies in terms of revenue in all industries, inspecting their publicly available key performance indicators derived from corporate annual reports and ESG reports.

Major company officials attend the Korea's Sustainability Leaders 2023 awards ceremony at the Korea Press Center in Seoul, Thursday. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

The massive analytical effort was then complemented by an online survey of more than 3,000 Korean consumers of their opinions of specific Korean companies in terms of their sustainability efforts.

LG Electronics stood atop the overall list in the environmental field, scoring a maximum of 100 points. In the social category, Korea Gas Corp. led the pack, also with 100 points. In the governance category, LG Energy Solution topped the list, also scoring 100.

hyunbin@koreatimes.co.kr