이 기사는 2021년 04월 02일 08:04 thebell 에 표출된 기사입니다.

South Korean conglomerates scramble to create environment, social and corporate governance (ESG) committees within their boards of directors, increasingly following global trends.

LG Corp and its listed affiliates, POSCO, SK Holdings, Hanwha Corp, and GS Holdings have formed or will form ESG committees within their boards.

Hanwha Corp’s ESG committee consists of two outsider directors and one insider director, chaired by outside director Lee Suk-jae, a professor of philosophy at the Seoul National University.

Lee joined Hanwha Corp last year. Hanwha’s appointment of Lee as its outsider director was seemingly in line with the conglomerate's emphasis on the ethical management.

LG Corp hasn’t appointed the chairman of its ESG committee yet. It and its affiliates plan to launch ESG committees by the end of June. LG Group is the only one among the four largest conglomerates in the country that has come up with a comprehensive governance improvement plan encompassing all of its listed affiliates. Its ESG committee will be comprised of the entire outside directors and CEOs of each affiliate.

LG Corp also plans to place a consulting group composed of external ESG experts under the committee to strengthen expertise. This would mark the first change to its board in nearly 20 years since 2003.

GS Holdings, the holding entity of the GS group, appointed Hyun Oh-seok, former deputy prime minister and finance minister, as the chair of its ESG committee. He was re-elected as the firm's outside director this year. Other two committee members are GS Holdings CEO Hong Soon-ky and Kim Jin-tae, former prosecutor general.

The three-member committee already kicked off the first meeting although all three members have little connection with the ESG field.

POSCO has included an environmental expert in its ESG committee to reduce risks related to ESG factors. The committee is composed of three outside directors and Kim Hag-dong, Head of Steel Business unit. Kim Shin-bae, former Vice Chairman of SK Group, will lead the committee.

Market insiders are paying attention to Yoo Young-sook, one of the three outsider directors of POSCO. Yoo is an environmental expert with a doctoral degree in biochemistry and served as the Minister of Environment. (Reporting by Eun-a Cho)