LH, Introducing ESG Management and Innovating Housing Services to "Practice Fair and Transparent Management"

Full-Scale ESG Management, Leading Public Trust Management with Eco-Friendly, Win-Win, and Transparent Decision-Making
National Audit, Strengthening Innovation to Block Unfair Practices and Corruption Reflecting Public Opinion
Expanding Residential Services such as Medical Care, Care, and Jobs in Rental Housing Complexes... Integrated Public Rental to Debut in December

Kim Hyun-jun, President of LH (center in the photo), Song Kyung-yong, Chairman (left), and Kim Jae-gu, Head of the ESG Division (right), are attending and discussing at the 2nd Public Consensus Committee held on the 29th at the LH Seoul Regional Headquarters.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kangwook Cho] Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) will fully launch ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) management starting next year.

On the 29th, LH held the 2nd National Consensus Committee meeting of this year and announced that it will establish an ESG management strategy framework by December and begin full-scale ESG management implementation from 2022.

At the meeting, key discussions focused on the action plan following the LH National Assembly audit conducted on October 7, measures to strengthen housing welfare accordingly, and the current status of ESG adoption.

LH is currently developing ESG management strategies such as establishing environmental, social, and governance frameworks through recent internal and external consultations and consulting. Accordingly, an ESG subcommittee was newly established within the National Consensus Committee, which will provide advisory services including proposing implementation ideas and discovering stakeholder participation methods.

For concrete implementation, LH plans to actively identify housing welfare targets such as non-residential occupants and provide rental housing while expanding housing life services. Additionally, green remodeling of aging houses using LED lighting and solar power facilities will increase from 37,000 households this year to 40,000 households next year. Zero-energy building certification, which minimizes energy consumption, will be mandated for apartment complexes of 30 households or more by 2025, aiming to lead ESG management practice by saving approximately 1,200 GWh of energy annually.

LH reported measures addressing major issues raised in this year’s National Assembly audit, including preferential treatment for retirees and unfair practices such as work allocation favoritism.

To limit excessive contracts with appraisers and legal scriveners affiliated with LH, LH will reduce the scope of private contracts for appraisals and switch to open competition, improve selection criteria for legal scriveners, and expand external reviewers to ensure transparent institutional improvements that prevent concentration of contracts to specific legal scriveners. Regarding work allocation favoritism such as design services, LH will promptly prepare countermeasures based on the comprehensive audit results from the Board of Audit and Inspection and complete employee asset registration within the year to strengthen internal controls and reinforce public service discipline.

LH plans to transform rental housing into comprehensive welfare spaces that can simultaneously address medical care, caregiving, and employment, significantly improving access to housing welfare. Specifically, it will expand tailored support such as senior housing with specialized medical facilities, rural housing providing jobs in environmental cleanup and caregiving, and newlywed housing supporting communal childcare. By implementing ‘pre-verification, post-application’ using MyData that collects personal information, document submission will be simplified and the waiting period after application will be shortened by about one month. In December, LH will introduce the ‘Integrated Public Rental Housing’ system for the first time, unifying complex rental types such as Happy and National Rental and standardizing supply criteria. Integrated Public Rental Housing, where rent is charged according to residents’ income and is accessible to low-income to middle-class households without distinction, will first be supplied in Gwacheon Knowledge Information Town (605 households) and Byeollae New Town (576 households).

Song Kyung-yong, co-chairman of the National Consensus Committee, said, "I hope LH sincerely accepts the public’s opinions and continuously shows change and innovation," adding, "Since housing welfare projects require connection and communication among experts above all, it is necessary to continuously strengthen public services such as national housing services through active cooperation with local governments, the private sector, and NGOs."

Kim Hyun-jun, LH President, emphasized, "We will focus our capabilities on strengthening the housing welfare foundation to establish ourselves as a reliable housing welfare platform for the public and actively practice ESG management to gain public trust through transparent management that considers the environment and society."

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