Actress Lee Seung-yeon, aiming to become an ESG expert and contribute to the environment

ESG, recently considered a virtue of a good company, is a concept that emphasizes management conscious of Earth’s sustainability by fulfilling responsibilities for the environment, society and governance.

On the afternoon of October 27, the Kyunghyang Shinmun met an unexpected person at the ESG specialist program organized by the Intellectual Property Storytelling Association at the multipurpose hall on the first floor of Secret Woman in Yuseong-gu, Daejeon.

It was actress Lee Seung-yeon (55, pictured), widely known for her role in the TV drama First Love. She had come from Seoul and had been attending the lectures after enrolling in the program to systematically study ESG. After the lecture Friday, she sat for an interview and said, “I want to make what contribution I can to promote the importance of the environment and improve the sustainability of our planet.”

“In the first class, I heard the sentence, ‘No business is possible on a destroyed Earth,’ and I felt a lot from that message.” Over twenty business representatives, officials, academics and citizens, including former Daejeon Mayor Heo Tae-jeong, were enrolled in the program.

“We think we know a lot about the environment, but I learned in the program that there are a lot of things we are missing,” said Lee, adding “I realized that we have to strive for the sustainability of the planet in each of our lives, and that I, myself, must start by changing my personal attitude in life.”

As more and more people think this way, companies are realizing that they cannot survive in the global marketplace without being socially responsible. In Germany, for example, the government enacted a law requiring domestic companies employing more than 3,000 people to inspect their own operations as well as their parts suppliers (including foreign firms) for their commitment to environmental standards and basic rights, such as labor rights, and to exclude companies that don’t comply from their supply chain.

The spread of value-driven consumption has led to demands for companies to establish good governance. “ESG is emerging as an important factor in corporate management, but only 27.7% of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Korea are prepared or are in the process of preparing for related issues,” said Lee. She continued and said, “If I get the chance, I would like to play a role in promoting the importance of ESG to Korean companies and the public.”

The actress is also participating in the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology's Advanced Intellectual Property Strategy Program to study intellectual property (IP), including patents and copyrights.