Nationwide First 'Jeonnam Education ESG' Introduced, Collaboration Between Public, Private, and Industry-Academia Sectors

Research and Development of ESG Board Games and Comic Textbooks

As interest grows in overcoming the crisis of regional population extinction and the decline in school-age population, expectations are also rising for the introduction of ‘Jeonnam Education ESG,’ the first initiative of its kind nationwide.

According to the Jeonnam Provincial Office of Education on the 26th, they plan to promote the ‘ESG Jeonnam Education Support Center’ with the goal of Jeonnam education-type development focusing on environmental protection, social contribution, governance, and cooperation.

‘ESG’ became globally known after being first reported by the United Nations in 2004 and gaining attention in 2020 when Larry Fink, chairman of the asset management firm BlackRock, announced a ban on investing in companies earning more than 30% of their profits from fossil fuels.

Jeonnam Provincial Office of Education developed the nation's first ESG board game and distributed it to frontline schools. Photo by Jeonnam Provincial Office of Education

The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicted that based on the 2030 Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) announced by countries worldwide, the global average temperature rise is likely to exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius within this century.

In particular, if countries do not raise their NDCs and emissions increase thereafter, the median estimate of global average temperature rise is expected to reach 2.8 degrees Celsius (ranging from 2.1 to 3.4 degrees) by 2100.

As social interest in ESG grows due to climate change and polarization, ‘Jeonnam Education ESG’ has also launched with the aim of establishing a foundation for sustainable Jeonnam education and presenting educational directions in environment, society, and governance.

Especially, the development of various programs such as the nation’s first ESG board game is being recognized for helping the local community understand ESG.

An official from the Provincial Office of Education stated, “We are planning to research expert teams and comic textbooks to ensure ESG education is properly established,” adding, “Educational administrative institutions must strive to nurture new talents by building an ESG education ecosystem together with local communities through climate response, democratic citizenship education, and village education communities.”

The Jeonnam Provincial Office of Education plans to establish and operate an ESG Education Center and an ESG Education Development Committee for ESG education projects, including discovering excellent cases for activating ESG education and practice, developing region-specific programs, and conducting practice campaigns.

Meanwhile, the ‘Jeonnam Office of Education ESG Education and Practice Ordinance’ was jointly proposed by 61 members after being originally introduced by Jeong Ok-hyun, Jeonnam Provincial Assembly member (Democratic Party, Mokpo 2), on the 9th of last month, and passed the 1st Education Committee of the 371st extraordinary session.

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