SK Group companies create $15 billion of social value in 2021

Lee Hyung-hee, chairman of the Social Value Committee at SK, delivers a spech on the company's efforts to enhance social value on Monday in central Seoul. [SK]

SK Group companies created 18.4 trillion-won ($14.6 billion) of social value last year, the country’s second largest chaebol announced on Monday.

Social value refers to the value that a company has contributed to solving or alleviating problems facing its stakeholders, such as climate change and job creation.

SK factors in both negative and positive aspects of SK company operations and products, ranging from functional performance to impact on a wide range of issues. The group compared them against the indexes and standards set by international organizations.

By sector, SK companies generated 19.3 trillion won in economic value related to employment and tax payments. In environment, it recorded minus 2.9 trillion won due mainly to the operation of petrochemical plants.

SK Chairman Chey Tae-won has pushed for the social value initiative, emphasizing that the transparent measurement of social value is important to produce more valuable goods and services.

"It is necessary to increase transparency by disclosing both positive measurement results and also negative aspects, and to come up with complementary measures in the process of communication with external stakeholders," Chey said in a statement released on Monday.

SK explained that the operation of plants made it difficult to contain the negative impact on environment.

"SK is making efforts to reduce carbon emissions by declaring Net Zero and RE100, but it will be difficult to reduce the total amount of carbon emissions over the next two to three years due to plant expansion and increased operation rate," an official at SK said.

BY PARK EUN-JEE [park.eunjee@joongang.co.kr]