SK Chemicals Achieves 'A Grade' Leadership in CDP Climate Change and Water Security Assessments

One Grade Higher Than Last Year

SK Chemicals announced on the 20th that it received the highest grade of A in the climate change and water resource protection evaluation from the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), an international sustainability management assessment organization.

SK Chemicals Pangyo Headquarters exterior. Photo by SK Chemicals

CDP is a global project that annually requests information disclosure and publishes evaluation results on major environmental issues such as climate change, forests, and water from leading companies worldwide, and is regarded as the most reliable sustainability assessment.

SK Chemicals received an A- grade last year in both climate change and water resource protection sectors, and this year improved by one grade to an A. CDP evaluates on an 8-level scale from D- to A, with A being the highest grade in the CDP rating system.

The company explained that based on global ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) disclosure standards such as the climate-related disclosure standard (IFRS S2), it detailed the risk and opportunity assessment procedures and diversified the analysis of financial impacts, which collectively led to a positive evaluation. Additionally, in the climate change sector, continuous reductions were implemented according to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), and in the water resource protection sector, the company disclosed water intake, water recycling volume, and water pollution indicators, as well as efforts to use water resources efficiently, which contributed to the high evaluation.

Furthermore, SK Chemicals was included in the DJSI Korea Index for the fourth consecutive year last year.

DJSI is a sustainability assessment and investment index that comprehensively considers a company's economic performance as well as ESG aspects, announced annually by S&P Global, a global financial information provider.

In this evaluation, SK Chemicals achieved the second-highest score in the global chemical industry group and was selected as a member of the S&P Global Sustainability Annual Report for two consecutive years.

Jaehyun Ahn, President of SK Chemicals, said, “We were able to receive a high evaluation thanks to ESG management linked to business, such as reducing plastic waste using circular recycling technology, and the efforts of our members to reduce carbon emissions and protect water resources on the ground.” He added, “SK Chemicals will strive to lead global ESG management beyond Korea as a global ESG leader.”