SK스페셜티, SK머티리얼즈 에어플러스, SK트리켐 등 SK㈜ 머티리얼즈 자회사들이 ESG 평가 기관으로부터 ‘ESG 우수 기업’이라는 평가를 받았다.
SK Specialty, Sustainbest Evaluation Highest Grade AA Acquired
Subsidiary also receives excellent ratings in CDP and ZWTL evaluations
SK Materials subsidiaries, including SK Specialty, SK Materials Airplus, and SK Trichem, received evaluations as ‘ESG Excellent Companies’ from ESG evaluation agencies.
SK Materials, a materials technology company, announced on the 5th that its subsidiary SK Specialty received the highest grade (AA) in the 2023 ESG evaluation by ESG evaluation agency SustainVest.
According to SustainVest, SK Specialty received high ratings in the areas of environment, society, and governance, and was upgraded one level from Grade A in 2022 to Grade AA in 2023.
Among environmental fields, the production process sector received high marks.
This is interpreted as a result of implementing carbon reduction management, such as establishing an energy management system (ISO50001) that integrates and systematically manages energy used in the production process and flexibly introducing LNG used in special gas synthesis and refining to reduce LNG consumption.
In the social sector, regional coexistence and supply chain management sectors received high marks.
SK Specialty has been promoting the STAXX project since July 2021 to revitalize the economy of Yeongju-si, Gyeongbuk, where its main business is located. This project aims to create a startup ecosystem based on social ventures in Yeongju, an area suffering from problems such as population decline, aging, and urban sprawl, and to revitalize the city.
SK Materials received positive evaluations in the areas of carbon reduction, water management, resource recycling, and safety management.
SK Specialty, SK Materials Airplus, SK Trichem, and SK Materials Performance received the Environmental Product Declaration (carbon footprint) certification from the Korea Environmental Industry & Technology Institute under the Ministry of Environment in November.
The Environmental Performance Labeling certification is a system that evaluates the total amount of carbon generated throughout the entire process of product production, consumption, and disposal, as well as its impact on the environment. SK Materials received certification in the field of 'measurement' of carbon generated from nitrogen trifluoride (NF3), liquefied argon (LAr), Cp hafnium (CpHf), and photoresist (ASPIN-1195).
An official from SK Materials commented, “With the ‘measurement’ certification of the Environmental Performance Label, we can now provide verified information related to carbon reduction to stakeholders, and systematic carbon reduction management can be carried out based on the verified information.”
In addition, SK Specialty received a 'Leadership A-' grade in the climate change response and water security sector evaluation conducted by the UK's Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP). In the water security sector, it received the Management Excellence Award, which is given to the top five companies among those receiving a 'Leadership A-' grade. In addition, SK Specialty received a gold grade, which is only given to those who achieve 95% or more waste recycling, in the ZWTL (Zero Waste to Landfill) verification, a global index that evaluates a company's resource recycling efforts.
In particular, SK Specialty was recognized for its faithful implementation of safety management, including such ESG achievements, and was awarded the Prime Minister's Award for Safety, the most prestigious government award in the safety and environment field, and the Presidential Citation for Green Management in November.
SK Materials joined RE100 in 2020 as the first domestic materials company to lead ESG management in the materials industry. It also declared that it would achieve Net-Zero by 2030, 20 years ahead of the global target year, and has since disclosed detailed implementation strategies and tasks in its Sustainability Management Report and is putting them into practice.
SK Materials CEO Kim Yang-taek said, “We will continue to pursue our company’s unique ESG management to secure the trust of various stakeholders, including the market, customers, and partners, while increasing our corporate value.”