SK Group to spend $6 bn on Ulsan complex’s green transition: Chairman

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won announces at a meeting with reporters at the “2023 Ulsan Forum,” held at the Ulsan Exhibition & Convention Center (UECO) on Sep. 14. [Courtesy of SK Innovation]

SK Group, South Korea’s second-largest conglomerate, plans to continue to invest in the company‘s portfolio shift towards eco-friendly businesses, with the total planned investment for SK Group affiliates amounting to 8 trillion won ($6.02 billion) in the Ulsan region alone.

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won made the announcement during a meeting with reporters at the “2023 Ulsan Forum,” held at the southeastern city’s Ulsan Exhibition & Convention Center (UECO) on Thursday, adding that the investment was related to “green and energy transition.”

“Carbon reduction is the most urgent issue due to climate change,” Chey said.

“In order to protect our ecosystem, we aim to make plastics 100 percent recyclable in the future,” he continued, adding that the Ulsan ARC, the world’s first waste plastic recycling complex, will be the first step in achieving the goal.

SK geo centric Co., a chemical subsidiary of SK Innovation Co., plans to establish the Ulsan ARC within the SK Ulsan Complex (CLX).

Chey also stressed that the Ulsan Forum should be a forum that can design a new future for Ulsan while utilizing the city’s advantages as a manufacturing center.

He raised the need to actively utilize artificial intelligence (AI) to strengthen Ulsan’s manufacturing competitiveness.

“Through digitalization, we can become a software mecca centered on manufacturing AI,” Chey said. “If we build an infrastructure that can draw on manufacturing data in the Ulsan region, the city will be transformed into an AI-centered city and become a city where not only manufacturing but also software businesses can work together.”

Chey also emphasized the importance of changing the perception of manufacturing and creating a new culture depicting manufacturing as cool and beautiful as opposed to a rigid and male-dominated military. “It’s important to change the perception that people have of manufacturing, and Ulsan can bring about this change.”

The Ulsan Forum, now in its second year, is a regional forum initiated by SK Group in collaboration with the Ulsan Chamber of Commerce and Industry to discuss various social issues facing the local community.