By Cho Jin-seo
Staff Reporter
Telecom giant KT plans to groom ``green business'' as one of its new growth engines in the next four years.
The firm said that developing IT solutions for public and private environment projects and recycling network equipment will be the most plausible business models. Furthermore, it can possibly start renewable energy businesses using its vast real estate all over the country, officials said.
``We have a social responsibility of adopting environment-friendly policies. But we are also preparing for it as a business opportunity.'' Lee Woo-moon, director of KT's assets planning department, said in an interview with The Korea Times on Monday.
``We are considering selling energy saving products and services, and recycling network equipment. We can also use our properties for the power generation business,'' said Shon Yil-kweon, manager of the department.
KT is the dominant telephone and broadband Internet service provider in Korea. Though the telecom or Internet firms may look cleaner than traditional manufacturing and chemical industries, they do consume increasing amounts of electricity and other resources, which means more green house gas emissions and more pollution from power plants.
Everyday offices, data centers and other facilities of KT consume about 0.5 percent of electricity and more than 0.3 percent of piped water that Korea produces. The electricity bill comes to around 140 billion won a year.
Formerly a public company, KT also possesses numerous buildings and other real estate all over the country, of which the book value amounts to 7 trillion won. The lands and buildings can be utilized in saving or even producing renewable energy, Sohn said.
As a first step, the firm has been operating a cogeneration plant in its R& D center in southern Seoul since 2005, which produces electricity and heat used there. New buildings are now constructed with energy-efficient lighting and air-conditioning equipment, and some of them have solar panels though its capacity is far less than what the company's 37,000 employees use.
Such activities gave the firm 1 billion won in tax rebate from the government, which returns 10 percent of investment made in purchasing eco-friendly or energy-saving equipment.
``Korea will be included in the Kyoto Protocol in 2009, so if we are not ready for it, we will be in a very difficult situation,'' Lee said.
Experts agree that Korean firms should take a more active attitude in dealing with environmental issues.
``While the green movement has existed for several decades, corporate mindsets have evolved over time, from obligation toward opportunity,'' said Shanton Wilcox, director of consulting firm Archstone, in last week's conference in Seoul. ``It is important to stay ahead of energy and climate change legislation and regulations.''
KT's role model is GE, the U.S. industrial giant, which has successfully positioned itself as one of greenest companies over the past few years under the leadership of Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Immelt.
``Ecomagination'' has been GE's corporate slogan since 2005. The U.S. firm expects $20 billion in sales of energy-efficient and environment-friendly machinery and services in power generation, desalination and other manufacturing sectors.
GE's case was brought up in KT's Environmental Management Committee meeting last Friday. Nine executive members of the committee agreed to make the green business one of KT's growth engines by 2012.
As a short-term goal, the firm is now trying to be included in Dow Jones Sustainability Index this year. Launched in 1999, the index tracks leading sustainability-driven companies worldwide. An inclusion in it will be considered as a certificate of being a green company and will thus have a positive effect on the firm's stock price, KT's Lee says.
``We have conducted internal research last year, and we are working to join the index this year,'' he said.
indizio@koreatimes.co.kr
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