Press Releases

“Climate Disclosure is a Primary Concern for Global Investors…
FSC Urgently Demands a 2026 Mandatory Implementation Roadmap”

- National Assembly Press Conference Convened by 'Bisang' (Congressional Climate Action Caucus), Climate NGOs, and Private Think Tanks Urging Swift Sustainability Disclosure Rollouts

- 4 Core Operational Demands: ① Mandatory Implementation by 2026, ② Initial Mandate for Firms with Assets of KRW 2 Trillion or More, ③ Formal Codification Within Annual Business Reports, and ④ Inclusion of Scope 3 Value-Chain Emissions

- PRI (The World’s Largest Responsible Investment Network) Backs NGO Joint Statement, Highlighting That Compliance with ISSB Standards is Essential for Global Credibility

'Bisang,' a Democratic Party of Korea congressional caucus focused on climate action, alongside environmental NGOs and private think tanks, convened to officially demand that the Financial Services Commission (FSC) mandate corporate climate disclosures starting in 2026.

The Economic Reform Research Institute, Greenpeace, the Green Transition Institute, and the Korea Sustainability Investing Forum (KoSIF) co-hosted a press conference with 'Bisang' at the National Assembly Communication Building on the morning of the 23rd. The coalition strongly asserted that climate disclosure must become a statutory requirement by 2026 at the latest. The event was attended by Democratic Party lawmakers, including Sung-hwan Kim, Jung-hyun Park, Ji-hye Park, Seong-gon Wi, So-young Lee, Mi-ae Im, and Jung-ae Han.

The 4 Pillars of the 2026 Mandatory Disclosure Roadmap 

The coalition detailed that any credible administrative roadmap put forward by the FSC must integrate the following four structural components:

⦁ 2026 Implementation Window: Initiating mandatory reporting for the 2025 fiscal year.

⦁ Asset-Based Phase-In: Beginning strictly with corporations required to submit annual business reports that hold total assets of KRW 2 trillion or more, followed by a phased, predictable expansion to smaller entities.

⦁ Statutory Codification: Embedding disclosures directly into legally binding Annual Business Reports (Form 10-K equivalents) rather than permitting fragmented, voluntary sustainability reports.

⦁ Mandatory Scope 3 Tracking: Requiring full transparency for Scope 3 emissions (indirect value-chain emissions), which historically account for roughly three-quarters (75%) of a typical corporation's total carbon footprint.

Conversely, major domestic business lobbies—including the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), the Korea Enterprises Federation (KEF), the Korea Listed Companies Association (KLCA), and the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI)—continue to lobby for a voluntary disclosure framework, requesting a delay until at least 2029 citing operational overhead. These lobby groups are also aggressively pushing to completely exclude Scope 3 metrics from the mandatory reporting criteria.

Global Regulatory Benchmarks vs. Domestic Inertia

Lawmaker Ji-hye Park of the Democratic Party of Korea delivered the opening remarks, stating:

"The European Union and the United States have established sovereign disclosure frameworks, and over 20 major economies are rewriting their legal codes to mandate disclosures between 2025 and 2027 based on the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) under the IFRS Foundation. Meanwhile, our Financial Services Commission has failed to present even a preliminary roadmap, a severe administrative lag that threatens to erode South Korea's competitiveness across international capital markets.“

Jong-oh Lee, CIO of KoSIF, expanded on the fiduciary urgency:

"The design of sovereign ESG disclosure policies has become a primary, non-negotiable concern for institutional investors worldwide. In May, a coalition of 120 premier investment organizations—including the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), CalPERS, the Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global (NBIM), and the Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) Initiative—issued a joint international call demanding the baseline adoption of ISSB ESG disclosure standards by 2025.

If our regulatory bodies yield to domestic industrial lobbying by delaying timelines and narrowing reporting boundaries, it may shield corporate bottom lines in the micro-short term. Ultimately, however, it will cripple the long-term competitiveness of all Korean enterprises, triggering a systemic 'Galapagos isolation' as international asset managers prioritizing ESG transparency and structural risk management divert capital elsewhere."

Backing from the Global Investment Architecture 

The Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), the world's preeminent global network for responsible investing, has officially endorsed the joint statement issued by South Korean NGOs demanding a 2026 statutory integration. The PRI emphasized:

"The current deficit of consistent, high-quality sustainability data severely obstructs investor decision-making. This data fragmentation actively prevents global capital from flowing efficiently toward broader sustainability and decarbonization objectives."

The PRI has also submitted an official comment letter to the Korea Sustainability Standards Board (KSSB), alerting the body that its current draft framework risks failing international alignment, comparability, and reliability metrics. The global network explicitly urged the KSSB to align directly with verified ISSB criteria.

Debunking Corporate Burden Arguments

Hyun-young Ji, a legal counsel at the Green Transition Institute, leveled strong criticism at regulatory delays:

"Despite promising since 2021 to systematically overhaul the nation's ESG financial frameworks to establish a first-mover advantage, the FSC has failed to deliver even a basic structural roadmap for disclosure—the literal baseline of sustainable finance. This is an incredibly regressive stance compared to global peers. Even Japan, which targeting a comparatively late 2027 mandatory implementation, has already codified its definitive statutory foundations."

Attorney Ji further dismantled business association talking points by citing empirical market data:

"A comprehensive survey recently conducted by the Korea Accounting Institute (KAI) revealed that 75% of domestic corporations and 85% of domestic investors actually agreed with the initial exposure draft that mandates Scope 3 emissions reporting. A vast majority of our primary enterprises are actively demanding that the government deliver an expedited, highly legible roadmap accompanied by granular administrative guidelines. Forcing a 2026 mandatory sustainability disclosure framework via a clear FSC roadmap is the only viable path to protecting our corporate ecosystem and stabilizing national economic performance."

The press conference also featured support from InfluenceMap, a global think tank that tracks corporate climate lobbying via open-source data. In a written brief, InfluenceMap argued that mandatory climate disclosure frameworks must integrate rigorous baseline metrics. These include mapping internal corporate governance structures tasked with climate policy engagement, auditing the alignment between stated corporate goals and actual political lobbying, identifying climate-related financial risks and opportunities, and requiring granular disclosures of all policy engagement activities. [END]

 Inquiries: Jong-O Lee CIO (argos68@kosif.org), Dajeong Kim  Senior Researcher (kimdj@kosif.org)