Seoul tops new ESG evaluation, Gangwon places last

Seoul topped an environmental, social and governance (ESG) evaluation model developed by Kyung Hee University’s newly established ESG Committee.

Prof. Oh Hyung-na, from Kyung Hee University’s College of International Studies, presents the outcomes of the first P-ESG evaluation conducted by the university’s newly established ESG Committee. The presentation took place Tuesday at Kyung Hee University’s Seoul Campus in Dongdaemun District, eastern Seoul. [KYUNG HEE UNIVERSITY]

Seoul topped an environmental, social and governance (ESG) evaluation model developed by Kyung Hee University’s newly established ESG Committee.

Sejong came in second and Jeju Island third. Ulsan was ranked second from last, behind Gangwon.

The results were part of the committee’s first “P-ESG” assessment. “P” stands for “public sector.”

The committee, which officially launched Tuesday afternoon at Kyung Hee University’s Seoul Campus in Dongdaemun District, eastern Seoul, has vowed to annually evaluate the country’s provinces and metropolitan cities on their ESG progress as part of the university’s efforts to play its role in society.

“Humanity is at a transitional period that’s difficult to navigate due to climate change and rapid advancements in artificial intelligence,” Kyung Hee University President Hahn Kyun-tae said in welcoming remarks during Tuesday's committee launch ceremony.

“Our decision to establish the ESG Committee was an important call for us to fulfill our social responsibility as a higher education institution.”

Hahn said he looked forward to seeing the ESG Committee contributing to society’s sustainable development.

Oh Hyung-na, a professor at Kyung Hee University’s College of International Studies who led the P-ESG research, said the committee chose to particularly assess major local governments in the country due to a lack of ESG evaluation models focusing on them, which slows down the pace of society’s “grand transition” because regions and cities are “key units of transition.”

According to Prof. Oh, the committee’s first ESG research was conducted for a year and looked into more than 90 pieces of time-series data, with the vast majority of those data derived from public sources and third-party evaluations.

In the research, the environmental category was divided into 32 sub-indicators, such as pollutant emissions, resource management and environmental reputation.

The social category was divided into 28 sub-indicators, including infrastructure, safety and housing.

The governance category was divided into 30 sub-indicators, such as administrative performance, financial management and transparency.

In the environmental section, Jeju Island came in first after receiving high scores on most sub-indicators. Seoul came in second after receiving the highest mark in environmental reputation.

Ulsan received the lowest score among metropolitan cities and South Chungcheong got the lowest score among provinces.

In the social section, Sejong came in first, followed by North Jeolla. Daegu had the lowest score among metropolitan cities and South Gyeongsang had the lowest score among provinces.

In the governance section, Seoul and Gyeonggi topped the list. Daegu had the lowest score among metropolitan cities and Gangwon scored the lowest among provinces.

Kwon Oh-byung, Kyung Hee University’s vice president of student affairs and head of the ESG Committee, said the committee would work toward releasing two assessments annually.

In the first half of each year, the committee will publish an ESG progress report on Korea’s provincial and metropolitan government offices.

In the latter half of each year, the committee will take their evaluation model to the Asean region and assess major Asean cities with a population of at least 1 million.

“Kyung Hee University’s ESG Committee will strive to exert a positive influence in Korea and abroad,” Kwon said.

In June, the vice president said the committee was planning to announce its latest P-ESG results at the EcoSummit 2023, slated to take place at the Gold Coast in Australia.

BY LEE SUNG-EUN [lee.sungeun@joongang.co.kr]