Last Year Upgraded from B+ Grade "Recognized for Efforts in Governance Improvement"
[Asia Economy Reporter Yu Je-hoon] Korean Air announced on the 15th that it received an 'Integrated Grade A' in the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) evaluation of listed companies announced by the Korea Corporate Governance Service (KCGS). This is an improvement from the previous year's integrated grade of B+.
KCGS is an organization that conducts evaluations, research, and investigations on corporate governance and social responsibility, and every October, it announces ESG evaluations and grades for about 900 listed companies in Korea. In this evaluation, Korean Air received an A+ grade in the social sector, an A in the environmental sector, and a B+ in the governance sector.
Korean Air explained that this grade improvement reflects recognition of its efforts to improve governance. Previously, in 2019, Korean Air amended regulations to guarantee the independence of the Outside Director Candidate Recommendation Committee and established a Guarantee Committee, as well as enacted and announced a governance charter.
In the environmental and social sectors, the company actively worked on climate change and carbon emissions trading, and continued sharing activities such as transporting relief supplies by fully utilizing the characteristics of the aviation industry, according to the company.
Korean Air plans to focus more on governance improvement going forward. In March of this year, it approved an amendment to the articles of incorporation to separate the CEO and the chairman of the board, and implemented measures such as composing all members of the Outside Director Candidate Recommendation Committee with outside directors. In August, it expanded and reorganized the Governance Committee within the board and newly established an ESG Committee.
A Korean Air official stated, "We plan to continue management activities that actively reflect non-financial factors such as environment, society, and governance, which affect corporate value and sustainability."
Meanwhile, Hanjin Kal, the holding company of Hanjin Group, received a governance grade of A and an integrated grade of B+ in the same evaluation. The company explained that this was the result of efforts to strengthen the independence of the board of directors.
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