Over 14% Reduction in Carbon Emissions in 3 Years
Vice Chairman Kim Jun: "Securing Stakeholder Trust through ESG Performance"
SK Innovation announced on the 7th that it created social value worth 3.0383 trillion KRW last year. This represents a 125% increase (1.6875 trillion KRW) compared to the previous year.
SK Innovation measures social value by dividing it into ▲‘Environmental Performance,’ which evaluates environmental processes, products, and services related to resource consumption and environmental pollution ▲‘Economic Indirect Contribution Performance,’ which measures employment, dividends, and tax payments ▲‘Social Performance,’ which includes labor, mutual growth, social contribution, donations, and volunteer activities.
Looking at last year’s performance by area, ‘Environmental Performance’ achieved the highest figure since social value measurement began in 2018. Through green portfolio innovation centered on electric vehicle batteries and battery materials, and three consecutive years of greenhouse gas reduction, it created social value of 851.9 billion KRW, an 11% improvement compared to the previous year. ‘Economic Indirect Contribution Performance’ recorded 3.7268 trillion KRW, a 74% increase from the previous year. ‘Social Performance’ was 163.4 billion KRW, a 5% decrease compared to the previous year. Starting last year, social value was measured for the first time at overseas business sites in the US, Europe, and China, achieving 527.7 billion KRW in performance.
A screenshot from the YouTube video of SK Innovation's corporate promotion campaign "It Didn't Exist, But Now It Does" launched in July last year [Image source=SK Innovation]
SK Innovation improved environmental performance by expanding electric vehicle batteries, battery materials, and recycled asphalt. The social value created by environment-related products and services last year surged 61% compared to the previous year. In addition to expanding existing core products and services, SK Innovation is preparing new business models through circular economy realization such as plastic recycling, Battery Metal Recycle (BMR) for waste battery metal recycling, and waste lubricant oil upcycling.
Carbon emissions were also reduced by more than 14% compared to the 2019 carbon emission baseline (12.43 million tons) through the ‘Green Operation’ initiative led by the net-zero coalition. Green Operation is a system that optimizes facility operation considering carbon emissions, prioritizes the introduction of low-carbon raw materials by reflecting Carbon Value, and reduces carbon emissions in energy and chemical businesses.
Economic Indirect Contribution Performance increased by 1.5876 trillion KRW compared to 2021 by newly measuring social value at overseas business sites in North America, Europe, and China. SK Innovation expects that with continuous employment expansion following the overseas business expansion of electric vehicle batteries and battery materials, economic indirect contribution performance will more than double by around 2030 compared to 2022.
Social Performance also produced concrete results such as strengthening mutual growth with partner companies. SK Innovation collaborated with small and medium-sized partner companies to develop business models for building a resource circulation ecosystem, including waste plastic recycling technology and recycled asphalt. Additionally, for two consecutive years, it has operated the startup mutual growth program ‘Egg (SK + Green Startup),’ a coalition of government, large corporations, and venture capital, to discover and nurture startups with environmental technologies. From 2019 to last year, SK Innovation has nurtured a total of 45 green startups. The plan is to nurture 100 companies by 2025.
Kim Jun, Vice Chairman of SK Innovation, said, “We will continuously demonstrate social value and ESG performance to secure trust from the market and stakeholders,” adding, “We will accelerate the execution of the ‘Carbon to Green’ financial story strategy to achieve this.”
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