GS Retail Achieves ESG Comprehensive Grade 'A'... "Towards a Sustainable Company"

GS Retail received an excellent grade of A in the ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) evaluation conducted by the Korea Corporate Governance Service (KCGS).

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] GS Retail announced on the 27th that it received an excellent grade of A in the ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) evaluation conducted by the Korea Corporate Governance Service (KCGS).

GS Retail also received an A in each individual category: Environment (E), Social Responsibility (S), and Governance (G). In particular, the environmental category played a significant role in achieving the overall ESG grade of ‘A’. In May this year, GS Retail became the first company in the distribution industry to simultaneously obtain certifications for the Environmental Management System (ISO14001) and Quality Management System (ISO9001) from the Korea Management Certification Institute. Building on this, the company selected six eco-friendly business promotion areas?Green Products, Green Stores, Green Partnerships, Green Marketing, Green Delivery, and Green New Business?and declared its intention to focus on nurturing these as core corporate business pillars.

In the social responsibility category, GS Retail’s receipt of the ‘Highest’ grade in the 2020 Win-Win Growth Index evaluation announced by the Win-Win Growth Committee last September was instrumental. Additionally, GS Retail operates a win-win fund of approximately 270 billion KRW and has established a 20 billion KRW fund to support COVID-19 relief and job creation, providing practical management support to partner companies.

In the governance category, GS Retail made a groundbreaking change in governance last year by separating the roles of CEO and Chairman of the Board. In March of this year, the company launched the ESG Promotion Council to strengthen ESG activities as a key focus across overall management.

A GS Retail official stated, “The ESG grade we received this time is the result of the efforts shown by all employees working together,” and added, “We will continue to prioritize ESG as the most important management task and practice it to grow into a sustainable company.”