Events Recap

2023 CDP Korea Awards

The Korea Sustainability Investing Forum (KoSIF), which serves as the secretariat for the CDP Korea Committee, held the "Publication of the CDP Korea Climate Change and Water Report 2023 and Award Ceremony for Excellence in Climate Change Response and Water Management" at the Glad Hotel in Yeouido, Seoul on March 13.

The 2023 CDP Korea Report — titled "CDP: A Survival Platform in the Era of ESG Disclosure" — analyzing domestic companies' levels of response to climate change and water management, as well as the 2023 CDP Best Practice report "Climate Leadership Black Box", containing exemplary climate leadership cases and key achievements, were also unveiled at the event. The event was sponsored by Shinhan Financial Group, Hyosung, the 2050 Carbon Neutral Green Growth Committee, the Ministry of Environment, and Korea Water Resources Corporation (K-water), with approximately 150 attendees. It was held in two parts: Part 1 — a ceremony commemorating the publication of the 2023 CDP Korea Report, and Part 2 — the Award Ceremony for Excellence in Climate Change Response and Water Management.

[2023 CDP Korea Awards Event Scene]

The event opened with a welcome address by Ji-in Jang, Chairperson of the CDP Korea Committee.

Chairperson Jang emphasized CDP's role as a global disclosure platform providing consistency and efficiency in the ESG disclosure ecosystem, stating that "responding to CDP is essentially laying the foundation for responding to ESRS and SEC requirements."

CDP CEO Sherry Madera delivered a video congratulatory message, noting that in 2023, 23,000 companies disclosed environmental data through CDP. She emphasized that CDP data builds the core of climate change response through measurement and management, and highlighted the increasingly greater usability and efficiency of CDP data.

Sang-hyup Kim, Co-chair of the 2050 Carbon Neutral Green Growth Committee, expressed gratitude for the CDP Korea Committee's pioneering efforts since 2008 and stressed the growing international importance of environmental data disclosure.

Following this, Taehan Kim, Senior Researcher at the CDP Korea Committee, delivered a presentation on "2023 CDP Climate Change and Water Security: Domestic and International Trends and Results." He noted that the CDP questionnaire is currently being revised by integrating modules to strengthen alignment with climate disclosure standards, which is expected to minimize the burden on CDP-responding companies.

Eun-jeong Oh, Head of Division at Korea Water Resources Corporation (K-water), presented on "Water Positive and Carbon Neutrality as Core Values for Responding to the Climate Crisis," sharing an introduction to K-water's Water Positive initiatives and implementation cases, as well as plans to expand RE100 corporate support through water energy development, and declared K-water's commitment to addressing the global water crisis.

In the following presentation by Hyuk-su Jang, Partner at Ackertonpartners, on "Strategic Direction for Corporate Disclosure Based on Digital ESG," he emphasized that "as the scope of disclosure expands, the importance of establishing a systematic ESG data management process is growing, and for this, a digital data management system utilizing AI and big data is needed."

Part 2, the award ceremony, began with a presentation of "2023 CDP Climate Change and Water Security Award Criteria" by Chun-seung Yang, Executive Vice-chairperson of the CDP Korea Committee.

In the 2023 Water Security category, SK Siltron earned the Grand Prize as the top performer among Leadership A recipients, and KT&G and SK Hynix received the Excellence Award.

Samsung Display, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, Pulmuone, Korea Midland Power, Hanwha Solutions, Hyundai Rotem, and SK Specialty received the Merit Award.

Among domestic companies that responded in the 2023 Climate Change category, the top 5 companies — Hyundai Motor, LG Innotek, SK Telecom, Hana Financial Group, Hanwha Solutions, and KB Financial Group — qualified for the "Carbon Management Honors Club" and were awarded accordingly.

In addition, the "Hall of Fame" award, given to companies that have been included in the Carbon Management Honors Club for 5 or more consecutive years, is divided into the Gold Club (1–3 consecutive years) and Platinum Club (4 or more years). Samsung Electro-Mechanics, Samsung C&T, Shinhan Financial Group, and Hyundai Engineering & Construction maintained their status in the Hall of Fame Platinum Club.

In the Climate Change category, awards were also given to outstanding companies by sector. There are a total of 9 sectors: Finance, Industrials, Consumer Discretionary, Energy & Utilities, Materials, Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare, Telecommunications, Consumer Staples, and IT. Additionally, special awards were given for new participation in the Water Security category, and special awards for voluntary and new participation in the Climate Change category were presented separately.

It is hoped that the companies that responded to CDP in 2023, the award winners at the Korea ceremony, and domestic companies that will newly participate in CDP going forward will take responsibility for climate change response and water management. Korea plays an important role in creating a low-carbon economy and is becoming a model for other countries in the region in advancing the sustainable development agenda. The CDP Korea Committee will continue to support domestic companies and financial institutions in proactively disclosing climate-related information through CDP and in taking the lead in climate action for Korea's sustainable future.

• Award criteria can be found in the CDP Korea Climate Change and Water Report 2023, and the list of award-winning companies can be found here.

View the report

 Inquiries: cdp@kosif.org