"Leading Climate Crisis Response"… Woori Financial Group Declares '2050 Carbon Neutral Financial Group'

Chairman Son Tae-seung "Strongly Promoting ESG Management"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyo-jin] Woori Financial Group announced on the 13th that it declared itself a ‘2050 Carbon Neutral Financial Group’ at the Group New Deal Finance Support Committee held on the 11th, aiming to lead the role of finance in responding to the climate change crisis.

As a first step, Woori Financial will establish a dedicated ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) department for ‘coal phase-out finance’ and create a committee to discuss ESG strategies with subsidiary CEOs.

All CEOs of Woori Financial subsidiaries, including Woori Bank and Woori Card, participated in the meeting held remotely on the same day, joining the declaration of coal phase-out finance, and agreed to halt new project financing (PF) or bond acquisitions for coal power plant construction going forward.

To this end, Woori Financial plans to establish a ‘Coal Phase-out Finance Guideline’ to stop new coal power plant PFs and, as much as possible, recover related assets invested previously at the time of refinancing.

In August, Woori Financial expanded and reorganized the existing ‘Innovation Finance Promotion Committee’ into the ‘New Deal Finance Support Committee,’ committing a total of 10 trillion KRW over five years: 4.2 trillion KRW for the Digital New Deal, 4.7 trillion KRW for the Green New Deal, and 1.1 trillion KRW for strengthening safety nets. Based on this, Woori Financial plans not only to stop at the coal phase-out finance declaration but also to expand support for green finance linked to the Green New Deal.

Woori Financial will also actively support the government’s recently announced 2050 carbon neutrality policy through this coal phase-out finance declaration. It plans to contribute to transitioning the economic ecosystem to a low-carbon economy by expanding investments in renewable energy power PFs such as hydrogen fuel cells, wind power, and solar power.

Additionally, in 2021, Woori Bank plans to pilot the installation of electric vehicle charging stations at its self-owned branch buildings and promote solar power facilities at the group training center located in Anseong, actively participating in low-carbon policies.

Chairman Sohn Tae-seung also stated at the Group Management Council held on the same day, “We will incorporate ESG as a core strategy in next year’s group management plan and mid-to-long-term strategy and strongly promote ESG management going forward,” urging, “Subsidiaries should actively link ESG factors when pursuing their business.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.