Gwangju City Councilor Lee Jeong-hwan Hosts Policy Forum on 'Seeking Activation of ESG Management'

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] A policy forum was held to promote ESG management in the Gwangju area.

According to the Gwangju Metropolitan Council on the 8th, a policy forum titled "Exploring Ways to Activate ESG Management," chaired by Gwangju City Council member Lee Jeonghwan, was held that afternoon at the city council.

As ESG management, which emphasizes corporate social responsibility, has recently emerged as a new topic, the forum was organized to revisit the understanding and importance of ESG.

Discussions were held on making ESG management mandatory for the city and public institutions, expanding private company participation, and ways to involve the youth in lifestyle ESG for sustainable corporate management in Gwangju.

ESG stands for Environmental, Social, and Governance, referring to the environment, social responsibility, and corporate ownership and management structure. It means that sustainable development can be achieved only by considering eco-friendly corporate activities, socially responsible management, and transparent governance improvements.

The keynote presentations were given by Professor Choi Jiho of Chonnam National University’s Business School and Kim Hyeongho, chairman of the Lifestyle ESG Action Gwangju-Jeonnam Youth Network. They introduced the understanding of ESG, types of activities, rationale for activities, methods for clarifying boundaries to maximize outcomes, practical measures and requests from a youth perspective, and proposed policy alternatives such as enacting ordinances, expanding ESG to related local government agencies, and incentivizing ESG in the private sector.

In the subsequent discussion, Park Sangbaek, Gwangju City Budget Officer; Son Hanghwan, Head of Corporate Development at Gwangju City; Na Seokju, Policy Officer at the Urban Railroad Corporation; Seok Seongmin, President of the Korean Youth Committee Gwangju Branch; and Kim Jiyoung, member of the Gwangju Metropolitan Youth Committee, participated in a heated debate.

Most discussants agreed that ESG is an unavoidable trend of the times and that realizing the social value of co-growth between companies and society through a proper understanding of ESG is necessary.

They also emphasized that joint efforts by the national government, local governments, and the city council are needed to revise systems and provide financial support so that companies can independently redefine and pursue visions, missions, and core values suited to their circumstances.

While youth are actively engaged in environmental and social areas, participation in governance is still lacking. They shared opinions on supplementing this by expanding youth roles in governance and increasing political participation.

Council member Lee Jeonghwan said, “ESG, which may feel somewhat unfamiliar to the general public, has now become a key indicator evaluating companies’ eco-friendly management, social responsibility, and transparent governance. As ESG management emerges as a timely and social alternative value, this forum provided a very valuable opportunity to discuss and gather wisdom on what and how Gwangju should prepare to realize the social value called ESG.”

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