Shinhan Life Appoints Choi Jae-cheol, Former Foreign Ministry Climate Change Ambassador, as 'ESG Advisory Ambassador'

Accelerating ESG Management

Sung Dae-gyu, President of Shinhan Life Insurance (right), is taking a commemorative photo with Choi Jae-cheol, Shinhan Life Insurance ESG Advisor, at the 'ESG Advisory Ambassador Appointment Ceremony' held at the Shinhan Life Insurance headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul.

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki Ha-young] Shinhan Life Insurance announced on the 25th that it has appointed Choi Jae-cheol, former Ambassador for Climate Change at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as its 'ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) Advisory Ambassador.'

Ambassador Choi Jae-cheol is recognized as an ESG expert, having handled various domestic and international climate and environmental diplomatic issues, including serving as the chief representative of the Korean delegation during the 2015 Paris Climate Change Agreement. He will provide expert lectures and consulting on strategic initiatives to enhance Shinhan Life Insurance's ESG management capabilities.

Shinhan Life Insurance has continuously pursued ESG management in line with the group's directions of 'eco-friendliness,' 'co-prosperity,' and 'trust,' accelerating these efforts since the appointment of President Sung Dae-gyu. In the environmental sector, it obtained 'ISO 14001,' the highest level of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) environmental management system, in July 2019. Additionally, it has strengthened eco-friendly business processes by promoting electronic subscription, expanding smart counter application (app) services, and introducing robotic process automation (RPA). The company has also continuously increased investments in eco-friendly sectors such as solar power and Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) funds. Furthermore, it operates an ESG checklist system to pre-assess ESG factors during insurance product development.

In the social responsibility sector, Shinhan Life Insurance has enhanced social contribution activities suited to the COVID-19 situation. Representative initiatives include ▲strengthening non-face-to-face social contributions such as the Sunfull Movement ▲donating PCs for home study to children in childcare facilities ▲supporting meals for vulnerable groups linked to small merchants in traditional markets. In particular, to fulfill corporate social responsibility through job creation, Shinhan Life plans to conduct double-digit scale open recruitment for Shinhan Life. The recruitment process will begin with a job announcement on April 1 and proceed with hiring scheduled for July, coinciding with the launch of the integrated Shinhan Life.

In the governance sector, Shinhan Life Insurance became the first domestic life insurance company to join the UN Principles for Sustainable Insurance in March last year. This international agreement, joined by 171 insurance companies worldwide, sets principles for integrating ESG factors into overall management, including insurance company operation strategies and product and service development.

To systematically operate ESG management, Shinhan Life Insurance has established a dedicated working council and involved key department managers to strengthen execution capabilities.

A Shinhan Life Insurance official stated, "ESG is a core element for creating sustainable corporate performance," adding, "The Shinhan Life, scheduled to launch in July, plans to accelerate differentiated ESG management based on the group's ESG direction."

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