Chairman Chey Tae-won's 'Financial Story'... "SK Group Accelerates Carbon Neutrality"

SK Group Resolves to Accelerate Carbon Neutrality (Net Zero)
85% Reduction in Group-wide Carbon Emissions by 2040

Choi Tae-won, Chairman of SK Group, is making closing remarks at the '2021 Expanded Management Meeting' held on the 22nd at the SKMS Research Institute in Icheon-si, Gyeonggi Province. (Photo by SK)

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] SK Group will achieve company-wide carbon neutrality (net zero) early starting from 2030. Led by SK Materials, the group has set a goal for all its affiliates to reduce carbon emissions by 85% by 2040. This means practicing carbon neutrality ahead of the global target year of 2050, which is interpreted as a demonstration of the group's determination to achieve its 'financial story' at the group level.

On the 22nd, SK Chairman Chey Tae-won attended the '2021 Expanded Management Meeting' held at the SKMS Research Institute in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, and said, "When we made semiconductors and hydrogen part of the group's financial story, the market responded positively," urging the early promotion of company-wide 'carbon neutrality (net zero)'.

The financial story is a management theme proposed by Chairman Chey last year, emphasizing that financial performance must be achieved through ESG (environment, social, governance) management.

Chairman Chey emphasized, "Considering that carbon prices will rise faster than expected in the future, net zero is not a matter of whether to do it or not, but a matter of competitiveness," adding, "If we move faster than others, our strategic options will expand, and ultimately we can win in competition."

As part of this, SK CEOs jointly resolved to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions ahead of the global target year of 2050 to overcome the global climate crisis.

Accordingly, SK Materials, which operates semiconductor and battery materials businesses, set its net zero target year as 2030. Many other affiliates have established net zero targets for 2040 or 2045, and the remaining companies will set interim targets at least every 10 years and transparently disclose the results annually.

Based on the group's carbon emissions in 2020, SK Group plans to reduce emissions by about 35% by 2030 and about 85% by 2040, building climate response leadership. This reflects SK's strong commitment to net zero, aiming to reduce the projected greenhouse gas emissions (BAU) by 65% by 2030 and 93% by 2040 if no carbon reduction activities were undertaken.

Meanwhile, this year's Expanded Management Meeting included external investment experts, management consultants, and heads of economic research institutes, who candidly conveyed various stakeholders' perspectives on SK's financial story and engaged in heated discussions to explore ways to enhance the completeness of the financial story with SK CEOs.