Korea Zinc Improves ESG Evaluation Scores and Ratings... "Choi Yoon-beom's ESG Management Policy Bears Fruit"

Chairman Choi Yoon-beom and Executives
Prioritize ESG Evaluation Improvement as Top Task

Major domestic institutions have raised the ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) ratings and scores of Korea Zinc. It is evaluated that the ESG management policy, continuously emphasized by Chairman Choi Yoon-beom since his inauguration, is bearing fruit.

Korea Zinc announced on the 27th that its governance (G) rating and score were upgraded in the second half evaluation conducted by the Korea ESG Institute, Korea Corporate Governance Service (KCGS), and Sustainvest.

The Korea ESG Institute rated Korea Zinc's governance grade as B (44.8 points) in the second half of last year, but raised it two levels to A (59.8 points) this year. Korea Corporate Governance Service's governance score for Korea Zinc increased by 18.2 points from 14 points last year to 32.2 points this year, and the grade was also upgraded from C to B+. Sustainvest has maintained Korea Zinc's governance grade at A for four consecutive years since 2021. The score also rose by 5.34 points from 63.1 in the second half of 2021 to 68.44 in the second half of this year.

In particular, the comprehensive evaluation category, which assesses E (Environment), S (Social), and G (Governance) collectively, also maintains a high grade. In the Korea ESG Institute's comprehensive evaluation, Korea Zinc earned an A in both the first and second halves of last year, followed by A+ and A in the first and second halves of this year, respectively, with detailed scores also increasing.

Similarly, Sustainvest recorded BB in the first half and A in the second half of last year, and AA in the first half and A in the second half of this year. Especially in the first half evaluation selecting the top 100 ESG excellent companies, Korea Zinc ranked 2nd overall among companies with assets exceeding 2 trillion KRW and 1st in the manufacturing sector. This evaluation primarily used governance improvements as a key assessment indicator.

Additionally, Korea Zinc was recently selected as an award-winning company at the '2024 2nd Korea ESG Awards,' jointly hosted by the Korea ESG Society and Electronic Times.

Korea Zinc has focused on shareholder friendliness, corporate governance improvement, environmental protection efforts, and fulfilling social responsibilities. In particular, in November this year, Chairman Choi Yoon-beom personally announced measures to strengthen the independence of the board of directors and promote protection and participation of minority shareholders. Proposals such as appointing foreign outside directors to communicate with foreign shareholders and overseas investors, quarterly dividends as a shareholder-friendly policy, and introducing cumulative voting to protect minority shareholder rights are also being pursued.

A Korea Zinc official stated, "The ESG management continuously emphasized by Chairman Choi Yoon-beom, both during his tenure as CEO and after his inauguration as chairman, is showing tangible results. However, ironically, we never imagined that the reluctance to handle various smelting residues and hazardous materials from Youngpoong under the ESG management policy would boomerang back as attacks from our business partner."

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