Korea Eximbank Launches First ESG Committee This Year... Approves Joining PCAF

Joined Carbon Accounting Finance Council... "Foundation for Climate Risk Management"

The Export-Import Bank of Korea (KEXIM) has launched its first Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Committee meeting of the year.

On the 18th, KEXIM held its first ESG Committee meeting of the year at its headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul, addressing key ESG issues such as joining the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF), the bank announced on the 19th. Since its establishment under the board of directors in September 2021, the KEXIM ESG Committee has been responsible for overseeing and managing the bank’s overall ESG management activities, including reviewing ESG business plans.

Prior to this, on the same day, KEXIM held a board meeting where it appointed Heo Jang, an outside director, as the chairperson of the ESG Committee, and Nam Hye-jung, another outside director, as a committee member, completing the three-member ESG Committee structure including President Yoon Hee-sung.

The first ESG Committee meeting of the year approved joining PCAF, an initiative addressing climate change, and discussed various ESG management activities such as social contribution projects and the publication of a new Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) report.

PCAF is a consortium led by Dutch financial institutions that spearheads the calculation and disclosure of carbon emissions arising from financial assets held by financial institutions. TCFD is a consortium established by the Financial Stability Board (FSB) that leads the development and dissemination of recommendations for climate-related financial disclosures. The bank explained that completing the PCAF membership is expected to lay the foundation for systematic management of climate risks.

Heo Jang, the newly appointed chairperson of KEXIM’s ESG Committee, stated, "There is a need to strengthen the activities of the ESG Committee to promote ESG management in response to the acceleration of global ESG discussions," adding, "We will continuously review multifaceted ESG activities and ensure the substantive role of the ESG Committee starting this year."

President Yoon also emphasized at the same event, "Institutionalization efforts related to ESG are intensifying, and in this trend, it is important for our companies not to lose global ESG competitiveness," stressing, "KEXIM plans to faithfully fulfill its role in revitalizing the ESG ecosystem as a policy financial institution, including support for eco-friendly projects."

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