Korea's Sustainability Leaders 2023
Statista announces 150 ESG champions after surveying over 1,200 companies
By Lee Kyung-min
A total of 150 companies made the list of Korea's Sustainability Leaders 2023 on the back of their commitment to advancing environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) practices in line with the global wave of prioritizing long-term sustainability into the future.
The list compiled by Statista, an international data and market research expert, The Korea Times and its sister paper the Hankook Ilbo, will function as a key reference for the global business community, policymakers and environmental rights advocacies among many stakeholders to help assess the standing of Korea's top industry players.
The companies were selected based on the review of 2021 data on their performance as measured by 31 key indicators as well as analysis on sustainability surveys of more than 3,000 Korean citizens.
This year's list is the second, after “Korea's Sustainability Leaders 2022,” whereby 100 ESG sustainability leaders were selected after surveying over 1,250 companies.
Partners of Statista's previous ESG research works include media outlets in the U.S., Italy and France. “America's Most Responsible Companies 2023,” for example, was a collaborative work with Newsweek, an American weekly news magazine.
The compiled list coincides with growing demands for corporate boards and government leaders to respond to fulfill ESG goals, as underlined by S&P Global, a financial information analytics firm.
The global analytics institute said in a report released in January of 2022 that more entities are facing “rising pressure to demonstrate that they are adequately equipped to understand and oversee ESG issues ― from climate change to human rights to social unrest.”
Standards
This year's ranking of Korea's Sustainability Leaders is based on a holistic view of corporate responsibility.
The Korea Times, the Hankook Ilbo and Statista have honored Korea's Leaders in Sustainability based on publicly available key performance indicators as well as an independent survey.
The analysis was carried out in a 4-phase process. It is based on a pool of over 1,200 Korean companies that were screened using a set of defined criteria. The criteria include disclosure of at least two key performance indicators covering environment and social dimensions in an independent sustainability report or similar. All the companies that passed the pre-screening have been analyzed in detail.
The detailed analysis consisted of an independent survey among more than 3,000 Korean residents and research based on publicly available key performance indicators derived from corporate annual reports and ESG reports. The independent survey was administered using an online access panel.
For each company and for each dimension of ESG, a score was calculated based on the survey results as well as the analysis of the key performance indicators.
The 150 companies with the best performance as measured under three ESG criteria were recognized as Korea's Sustainability Leaders 2023.
Under the environment requirement, the companies were reviewed around their reduction rate of greenhouse gas emissions, waste, energy, and water consumption.
Firms were reviewed under the "social" criteria on share of women in board, injury rate, philanthropic activities and more.?
The evaluation criteria under "corporate governance" concerned financial stability, innovation capacity and disclosure regarding ESG reporting.?
Ranking
LG Energy Solution stood atop the overall list with an overall score of 90, followed by SK IE Technology (88.5), Yuhan Kimberly (87.8), LG Electronics (87.4), Hanwha Solutions (86.2), LG Innotek (84.5), Samsung Electronics (82.5), Hyundai Motor Company (82.2), and SK Telecom (82).
By industry, Industrial Bank of Korea stood atop the list of banking and financial services industry category, followed by Mirae Asset Securities and KB Financial Group.
In the transport manufacturing industry, Hyundai Motor claimed the top spot, followed by Hyundai Mobis, Kia, and Mando.
Statista also selected outstanding performers in environment, social and corporate governance dimensions. In the environment dimension, LG Electronics was the leader, followed by Samsung Engineering, Yuhan Kimberly, Hyundai Motor and Samsung C&T.
In the social dimension, Korea Gas Corp stood at the top of the list, followed by LG Energy Solution, SK Shieldus, Industrial Bank of Korea and SK IE Technology.
In the corporate governance dimension, LG Energy Solution topped the list, followed by LG Innotek, LG Display, Hanwha Solutions and SK hynix.
The institute also honored the top five performers in specialized areas such as global engagement, data transparency, climate commitment and ESG reputation.
In the ESG global engagement area, SK Telecom stood atop, followed by KB Financial Group, LG Electronics, SK and JB Financial Group.
In the ESG data transparency area, Samsung Engineering was the top performer, followed by KB Financial Group, Samsung SDI, Hyosung Advanced Materials and Samsung SDS.
Climate commitment was best upheld by SK IE Technology, followed by Samsung Engineering, JB Financial Group, LG Electronics and SK Networks.
Yuhan Kimberly had the best ESG reputation, followed by LG Energy Solution, LG Household & Healthcare, Yuhan and LG Electronics.
The full list of 150 sustainability leaders, leaders per industry, top five performers per dimension and top five performers per specialized area is available at