SKC

● Up by one notch from the previous year’s A rating and included in the top 1.8% out of 1049 listed companies rated by the KCGS  

●​ Higher trustability recognized for disclosure of detailed environmental performance targets, mutual prosperity with local communities and enhanced expertise embedded in the board

SKC (CEO: Woncheol Park) announced on the 27th that the Company won integrated A+, one notch up from last year, in the 2023 ESG Ratings’ published by the Korea Institute of Corporate Governance and Sustainability) (KCGS). 

The KCGS annually rates companies listed in Korea on a scale of seven steps from S to A+, A, B+, B, C, and D by evaluating their managerial practices comprehensively in terms of environment, society and governance. The KCGS ESG ratings evaluation covered 1049 listed companies this year and only 19 out of them, including SKC, were honored with A+ this year, accounting for the top 1.8%. S rating has never been assigned to any company so far.

The honor of winning such a remarkable rating is the result of SKC’s persistent efforts to forge ahead with innovations in environment, society and governance categories while innovating business models at a breathless pace under its vision of ‘Global ESG Material Solution Provider.’ Winning the most prestigious rating, SKC has entrenched solid ESG leadership in its industry, earning greater trust from investors.

In terms of specific rating categories, SKC was rated A+, two notches up from last year, in the environment category and A+ and A in the society and the governance categories respectively, at the same level as the previous year. 

SKC enhanced its trustability, disclosing its environmental targets and achievements in detail in terms of GHG (greenhouse gas) net zero and plastic net zero domains. Furthermore, the Company is bolstering up eco-friendly management practices, as its subsidiary SK PIC Global obtained the ZWTL (Zero Waste to Landfill) certification last year in addition to SK Nexilis in 2021. SKC is also putting spurs to business initiatives to ensure mutual prosperity with various stakeholders, upgrading safety and environmental protection infrastructure with local communities where its production plants are based and developing/fulfilling human rights management goals to better respect the human rights of its employees.

Having announced commitment to corporate governance innovation beyond prevailing global expectations in 2021, SKC has endeavored to foster the independence of and diversity in its board of directors, appointing a board chairman out of independent directors, bringing more female directors on board and adopting the board skills matrix (BSM) to name a few. Moreover, SKC enhanced the professionalism and independence of its board of directors by evaluating the performance of the board in a manner transparently disclosed and deploying rigorous corporate ethics programs, which enabled the Company to obtain the ISO 37001 certification in this March to demonstrate compliance with the international standards for anti-corruption management system.

“The KCGS A+ rating is the credit given to SKC for our perseverance in promoting sustainability management,” said Choi Kap-ryong, Head of SKC's ESG Promotion Division. “We will continue to ensure transparency in ESG management initiatives and foster ESG-based business model innovation, empowering corporate growth with trust from stakeholders.” [End]