SK Innovation Holds Strategic Meeting at CES Site to Promote Company-wide Net Zero Initiative

Estimating Direct and Indirect Emissions by Subsidiary
Exploring Net-Zero Refinery Initiatives
Reviewing Carbon Reduction Measures and Mid-to-Long-Term Plans
Introducing Carbon-Neutral Commuting and Business Trip Policies

Kim Jun, Vice Chairman of SK Innovation (left), is speaking while presiding over a strategy meeting at CES 2022 in the United States on the 6th (local time).

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dae-yeol] On the 6th (local time), Kim Jun, Vice Chairman of SK Innovation, along with the company's management held the first strategic meeting of the year in the United States, where the world's largest electronics and IT exhibition, CES 2022, was held. They refined their carbon neutrality strategy, which is being promoted as part of new business initiatives to address climate change, and examined concrete implementation plans. SK Group affiliates, including SK Innovation, set up a joint exhibition pavilion themed around carbon neutrality at CES 2022.

At the meeting, SK Innovation's management discussed carbon neutrality implementation plans for each business subsidiary, including SK Energy and SK Geocentric. Earlier, the company announced a mid- to long-term goal to eliminate net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 while shifting its business focus to eco-friendly sectors last year. Vice Chairman Kim presided over the meeting and said, "Carbon neutrality is a goal that all of us must achieve for a sustainable future," adding, "Let us push forward with strong determination toward net zero, the ultimate destination of 'Carbon to Green' (transition to eco-friendly business)."

Each subsidiary estimated and shared reduction plans for greenhouse gas emissions directly emitted from business sites such as factories and power facilities, as well as indirect emissions, and further emissions across the entire value chain including product usage stages, disposal, and transportation. They also reviewed execution methods to reduce these emissions and mid- to long-term improvement plans. Investment in battery and material businesses, promoted as part of eco-friendly initiatives, is set to accelerate.

Batteries are expected to be increasingly used across the board in future societies, including electric vehicles, energy storage systems (ESS), urban air mobility (UAM), and robots. While batteries themselves do not emit carbon, it is necessary to reduce the carbon generated during their production and use. They explored detailed implementation plans for each subsidiary, including pursuing net-zero refineries with zero net carbon emissions.

No Jae-seok, President of SK IET (from the left), Kim Cheol-jung, Head of SK Innovation Portfolio Division, and Vice Chairman Kim Jun are visiting the SK exhibition hall at CES 2022.

To actively promote circular economy businesses such as battery recycling (BMR) led by SK Innovation, plastic recycling (SK Geocentric), and used lubricant recycling (SK Lubricants), they set annual targets and reviewed business directions. The company is preparing a business to reuse spent batteries for other purposes or recycle raw materials through processes such as crushing. This reduces carbon emissions generated during the mining and processing of battery materials like lithium and nickel. Plastic and lubricant recycling are also technically challenging, so they are refining related technologies and expanding domestic and international cooperation.

In line with SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won's declared global carbon reduction target of 200 million tons, they shared the global carbon reduction effects through SK Innovation's battery business and eco-friendly businesses such as carbon capture and storage (CCS). SK Innovation's major business subsidiaries, including refining, petrochemicals, lubricants, and oil development, operate businesses based on carbon fuels. This underscores the critical role of SK Innovation in achieving SK Group's carbon neutrality. It is also why they decided to completely transform the core businesses that have been the foundation of SK's growth into eco-friendly (green) sectors. To accelerate the transition to eco-friendly businesses in each subsidiary, it was also confirmed that Vice Chairman Kim Jun will participate as a board member in key companies.

At the conclusion of the strategic meeting, the management decided to introduce a carbon-neutral commuting and business travel system to demonstrate their commitment to achieving carbon neutrality. The company's employees generate about 12,000 tons of greenhouse gases annually through commuting and domestic and international business trips, which will be offset to net zero by using voluntary carbon credits secured through global forest conservation projects. This amount corresponds to the area of forest that would need to be established three times the size of Yeouido, Seoul. Kim Woo-kyung, SK Innovation's PR officer, said, "To achieve carbon neutrality, all business subsidiaries will enhance the execution power of their eco-friendly business transition strategies."

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