Shinsegae Department Store, Most Certified Green Stores... "Accelerating ESG Management"

3 Additional Green Store Certifications by Ministry of Environment This Month... Total 11
Annual Sustainability Management Report Presents ESG Directions and Practices

Shinsegae Department Store's eco-friendly plant cultivation kit provided to customers in celebration of Environment Month.

[Asia Economy Reporter Yuri Kim] Shinsegae Department Store is accelerating its ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) management by receiving green store certification and publishing a sustainability management report.

Shinsegae announced on the 20th that three additional stores?Hanam, Gimhae, and Masan?were designated as green stores by the Ministry of Environment this month, bringing the total to 11 locations. This is the highest number of certifications in the department store industry. Starting with Gangnam, Main, Centum City, Times Square, Daegu Shinsegae, Gyeonggi, and Uijeongbu stores in 2019, Gwangju Shinsegae joined last year, and various activities have been carried out to build eco-friendly stores.

This month, Shinsegae is publishing the 2021 Sustainability Management Report in compliance with the international ESG guideline GRI (Global Reporting Initiative). This follows the establishment of the ESG Committee within the board of directors in April last year and is a move to strengthen transparent corporate management. The report includes Shinsegae Department Store’s ESG management direction, commitment, and implementation details. It has been verified by an external organization, the Korea Management Certification Institute, to enhance accuracy and reliability. The report can be viewed on the official website and will be published annually.

Since declaring ethical management based on corporate ethics in 1999, Shinsegae published the first 'Ethical Management White Paper' in 2002. Since then, it has been striving to improve its organizational structure by promoting consulting aimed at a complete transition to an ESG management system. Starting with the establishment of the ESG Committee in April last year, an ESG dedicated organization, the ESG Promotion Office, was created in May, and five major action tasks?eco-friendliness, shared growth, regional coexistence, transparent governance, and a good workplace?have been established and are being implemented.

Shinsegae is the first in the industry to establish eco-friendly packaging standards and has set three principles for improving packaging materials used in stores, carrying out phased improvement work. The three principles are zero plastic, 100% recycled materials, and use of grade B (excellent) or higher. All packaging will be changed to excellent grade or higher in the future.

In addition, holiday gift packaging materials have been changed to eco-friendly and recyclable materials, and the industry’s first 'Eco Store Refill Station,' a refill space for laundry detergent and fabric softener, was introduced. The characters 'Ipureum' and 'Sinchorok,' launched to commemorate World Environment Day, won the 'iF Design Award 2021,' one of the world’s top three design awards. Scholarships provided to local youth over the past 26 years amount to 10 billion KRW.

To establish sound governance, a corporate governance charter was newly enacted in 2021, expressing the commitment to establishing a transparent corporate structure. Shinsegae Department Store stated, "We disclose separate standard sales performance monthly through the electronic disclosure system, providing transparent and fair information to shareholders, and as part of our shareholder return policy, we conduct annual dividends and implement a three-year dividend policy to ensure stable dividends."

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