By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter
Environment-friendly management, or ``green management,'' has emerged as one of the key phrases for the sustainable growth of enterprises. Now green management is not an option but is essential for survival in global competition.
On Dec. 15, the U.N. climate conference agreed in Bali, Indonesia, on a roadmap for negotiations for a new treaty to combat global warming, which sets an agenda to find ways to reduce pollution and help poor countries adapt to environmental changes.
By 2009, each country should set concrete goals and measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions based on the ``Bali Roadmap.'' Government regulations could be another burden for companies, which are not prepared for such changes.
On the other hand, eco-friendly management can not only enable companies to overcome new trade barriers more easily but allow them to see enormous effects such as the creation of new sources of profits and the improvement of brand images.
Recent consumer tastes shifting to environment-friendly products are another reason for the change of management. A growing number of ``smart'' consumers are checking this aspect when they choose goods.
Indeed, it now is an era in which enterprises cannot survive without green management. And some of the country's leading companies have already been bracing for the changes.
For many South Koreans, Yuhan-Kimberly has been recognized as a model company employing environment-friendly management. With an active tree-planting campaign since 1984, the paper manufacturer has gained the reputation as a ``green'' company.
Yuhan-Kimberly adopted the management doctrine in 1995 _ for the first time as a South Korean firm. And it now has its own regulations against the emission of air and water pollutants, 20 percent stricter than those stipulated in domestic laws.
Large business groups, commonly known as chaebol or family-controlled conglomerates, are not exception. Heads of the groups were also quick to embrace new guidelines as part of efforts to make their companies global leaders.
Samsung Group, for example, drew up a package of environment-friendly measures for the first time in 1992 and set up the Samsung Global Environment Research Center the following year. In 1996, Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee called for green management.
Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group also set up a global environment management in 2003 to develop hybrid and fuel-cell cars as well as vehicles with high fuel efficiency. It also set up a research center in 2005 for the development of eco-friendly vehicles.
Many other groups including LG, GS, SK, Doosan, Hanjin and Woongjin are also exerting their own efforts to address toughening global regulations through investments to gain future competitiveness through the development of eco-friendly technologies.
In the meantime, a growing number of enterprises are now more actively engaged in various environmental campaigns, such as forestation, in their corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities.
Korean Air, for example, has shown notable endeavors for the global environmental protection. Since 2004, the company has been planting trees in Mongolia and China to help prevent the yellow dust phenomenon haunting Northeast Asian countries.
In tandem with the toughening global regulations, the South Korean government is set to introduce some strong and more binding rules to promote environment-friendly management.
In particular, listed firms will be obliged to disclose environmental information such as the amount of harmful materials they use in the production of goods, creation of industrial waste and its treatment, and the emissions of air pollutants.
``Domestic and international regulations for environmental protection should now be recognized as an opportunity to spread green management,'' Inha University Prof. Park Yong-ik said. ``Companies should make use of them in a more positive manner.''
The Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), the country's biggest business lobby group, also stressed the need for voluntary efforts for environment-friendly management at a seminar it hosted along with the Ministry of Environment early this month.