Lotte doubles down on ESG initiatives
![Lotte Group affiliates actively push forward the environment, social and governance initiative. [LOTTE CORPORATION]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2021/10/28/28ec913e-c54a-4b43-b597-52f383445c5f.jpg)
Lotte Group affiliates actively push forward the environment, social and governance initiative. [LOTTE CORPORATION]
Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin announced that Lotte will achieve carbon neutrality by 2040, establish an ESG committee within the board of directors at its listed affiliates and take ESG management into consideration when evaluating CEO performance. The declaration took place during Lotte’s biannual Value Creation Meeting on July 1.
“As ESG initiative should be carried out on the foundation of financial soundness, Lotte should never neglect to improve the business performance,” said Shin.
“Therefore we mustn’t misunderstand what ESG stands for, or undermine the integrity of our ESG management.”
Lotte Group is the first conglomerate in Korea to make it mandatory for all of its listed affiliates, excluding Lotte Reit, to set up a committee within the board of directors and to publish a sustainability report.
Plastic recycling is one of Lotte’s priorities in ESG business. Lotte Corporation and its chemical and logistics subsidiaries including Lotte Chemical, Lotte Mart and 7-Eleven, are joining hands to establish a circular economy encompassing the whole process of plastic recycling.
Lotte Corporation invested over 900 million won into a venture company in order to facilitate building the infrastructure for collecting and recycling used plastic.
Lotte Mart and 7-Eleven will oversee the logistics system for discarded plastic, which will be ultimately recycled by Lotte Chemical.
Lotte Chemical is leading the “Project Loop” in collaboration with seven other companies to upcycle used plastic into eco-friendly products such as sneakers. Shin is known to be a fan of Project Loop as well, often wearing Project Loop sneakers.
Moreover, Lotte Chilsung Beverage is also recycling its Icis Water bottles to make tote bags and uniforms through the “Re:Green” recycling campaign.
7-Eleven launched the “GreenFill Box” on Oct. 12, where customers can buy and refill reusable products such as dish soap, and Lotte Duty Free began to issue a “smart receipt,” a digitized receipt send via mobile devices, a first in the domestic industry, starting from Sep. 15.
Having planned to go carbon neutral by 2040, Lotte divided the goal into 10-year plans. It will focus on enhancing production efficiency in the short term to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while establishing a long term strategy to achieve complete carbon neutrality with innovative technology and eco-friendly business models.
Lotte Chemical announced its hydrogen business roadmap dubbed “Every Step for H2” on July 13. The plan is to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030 and to supply 30 percent of the domestic demand for hydrogen, creating a sustainable hydrogen business model based on its logistics capacity and environmentally friendly technology.
With the goal to produce 600,000 tons of blue and green hydrogen by 2030, Lotte Chemical is investing in not only hydrogen production technology development, but also the hydrogen utilization businesses, such as hydrogen station operation and hydrogen storage.
Furthermore, Lotte GRS is cooperating with local farmers in North Gyeongsang, expanding sales channels through its coffee shop chain Angel-in-us.
By Shin Ha-nee [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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