Corporate Eco-Friendly Initiatives: 2 Out of 3 Companies Are in the Early Stages

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dae-yeol] A survey revealed that two out of three companies pursuing eco-friendly new businesses are either not yet started or just beginning.

According to a survey conducted by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry targeting the top 500 domestic companies by sales, about 41% responded that they are in the business review stage regarding eco-friendly projects. Those who answered they are in the initiation stage accounted for 27%, indicating that the majority are in the early phases. Companies in the growth stage, such as product launch, made up 21%, and those in the stabilization stage were 12%. More than half, 62%, said they are not engaged in or do not plan to pursue eco-friendly new businesses beyond their existing operations.

Regarding the fields of eco-friendly business promotion, carbon reduction projects such as hydrogen and renewable energy were the most common at 54%. Resource circulation projects like recycling and waste treatment accounted for 30%, energy efficiency improvement projects 28%, and environmental pollution reduction projects 17%. In terms of business promotion methods, in-house research and development was the most common at 66%, followed by technology purchase (19%), technology partnership (7%), participation in national projects (7%), and mergers and acquisitions (2%).

Eco-friendly New Business Promotion Stage

Only 16% of companies integrating advanced technologies such as the Fourth Industrial Revolution into their eco-friendly new businesses were found. The Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry stated, "Overseas manufacturing companies are competitively promoting R&D and large-scale facility investments to discover future growth engines in the eco-friendly new business sector."

When asked whether they had participated in the government's Green New Deal policy, 88% answered no. Among them, 40% said it was because they were unaware of related information, which was the most common reason. Many also responded that their projects did not fall under the supported fields (30%) or that support was limited to small and medium-sized enterprises (27%). To revitalize eco-friendly new businesses, 42% of respondents said tax and financial support were most needed. Rationalization of laws and systems (39%) and expansion of government R&D (18%) followed.

Kim Nok-young, head of the Sustainability Management Center at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said, "Once the government finalizes the ‘Green Classification System,’ which will serve as the judgment standard for eco-friendly activities by the first half of this year, corporate investment in environment-related new businesses will accelerate further." She added, "We hope the government will prepare bold support measures so that manufacturing companies, the backbone of our economy, can proactively solve environmental issues and create jobs in the low-carbon economy era."

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