GS Co., Ltd. Establishes ESG Committee... Full-Scale Venture Investment Through CVC

Hyun Oh-seok, Former Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, Appointed as ESG Committee Chair
Bylaw Changes for CVC Investment... Will GS Futures Gain Momentum?

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] GS Corporation is establishing an ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) Committee under its board of directors. Additionally, it plans to add 'financial business' to its corporate objectives to establish a corporate venture capital (CVC).

On the morning of the 29th, GS Corporation held its first ESG Committee meeting at the GS Tower on Nonhyeon-ro, Seoul. Following the launch last month of an eco-friendly council composed of Chief Green Officers (CGOs) from each affiliate, this first step is expected to mark the beginning of GS Group's full-scale ESG management.

GS Corporation announced on the 29th that to strengthen responsible ESG management, it has established an ESG Committee under the board of directors outside the regular shareholders' meeting and appointed former Minister of Strategy and Finance and Deputy Prime Minister Hyun Oh-seok, who was reappointed as an outside director, as the committee chairman. Outside directors Hong Soon-ki, President and CEO of GS Corporation, and former Prosecutor General Kim Jin-tae were named as ESG committee members.

The ESG Committee was established under the GS Corporation board of directors to respond to growing social interest and demands regarding ESG management and to clearly oversee ESG activities. Going forward, it will set strategies and directions for ESG management, review and approve policies, and oversee GS's substantive ESG activities.

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Hong Soon-ki, President and CEO of GS Corporation, stated, "ESG management is essential for sustainable management, so we established the ESG Committee under the board to clarify the board’s oversight of ESG activities. Together with the eco-friendly council composed of CGOs from each affiliate launched last month, we expect to further strengthen GS’s responsible ESG management."

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Meanwhile, at the 17th regular shareholders' meeting of GS Corporation held at 9 a.m. on the same day, an amendment to the articles of incorporation to add 'financial business' to the corporate objectives was also approved. This is a proactive measure following the government's passage of an amendment to the Fair Trade Act at the end of last year, which allows general holding companies to hold CVCs in a limited manner to support future-oriented venture startups.

In fact, GS established a venture investment corporation, GS Futures, in Silicon Valley, USA, last August, laying a foothold for discovering future businesses through venture investments. GS Futures operates a fund worth $155 million, invested by 10 companies including the holding company GS Corporation, GS Energy, GS Caltex, GS Retail, GS Home Shopping, GS Global, GS EPS, GS E&R, GS Power, and GS Construction. It was established to discover and invest in promising ventures that can create synergy with GS Group affiliates.

Additionally, GS Home Shopping has invested about 350 billion KRW over the past decade in collaboration with venture funds and startups to respond to rapidly changing IT technologies such as AI, big data, blockchain, and cloud computing. Since February, GS Corporation has also been running 'The GSChallenge' program to activate venture investments in biotechnology (BT).

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