Sustainable Management Moves from Words to Action... Real Performance Becomes the Standard

Korean Standards Association Holds 2025 Korea Sustainability Conference

The Korean Standards Association announced on November 26 that it held the "2025 Korea Sustainability Conference" and revealed the top-ranked company in the Korea Sustainability Index (KSI) as well as the outstanding companies for the Korea Sustainability Report Award (KRCA). Prior to the event, the association released key findings from this year's KSI and KRCA surveys.

According to this year's KSI survey, the primary issue identified by stakeholders across industries was "sustainable resource use." This issue was selected in 34 out of 50 industries, indicating a significant increase in social demand for resource efficiency. Other top issues included strengthening corporate management transparency, improving working conditions, pollution and waste management, and enhancing board accountability. The average KSI across all industries was 48.6, showing a slight increase compared to the previous year. By industry, home appliances (57.2) and consumer goods (56.5) recorded the highest scores.

The KRCA survey found that the number of published sustainability reports increased by approximately 22% year-on-year to 507 reports. Notably, disclosures expanded significantly across both listed and unlisted companies, as well as manufacturing and service sectors. The concentration of report releases in the first half of the year continued, suggesting that companies are proactively responding to changes in ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) evaluations and policies. About 90.5% of the reports surveyed underwent third-party verification, reflecting a substantial rise in the demand for information reliability. The most widely used ESG disclosure guideline was GRI at 93.1%, followed by SASB (66.0%) and TCFD (55.4%).

This year, "performance-based sustainable management" emerged as a key trend in the industry. As stakeholder expectations become more sophisticated and the importance of data reliability grows, companies are increasingly required to ensure transparent information disclosure and deliver tangible results.

Moon Dongmin, Chairman of the association, stated, "Companies must go beyond declarative ESG and establish strategic systems that deliver real results, with stakeholder participation being an essential element. The association will continue to strengthen its role as a reliable partner in accurately conveying stakeholder demands and market standards."

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