▲ SK Innovation’s Ulsan Complex members take a group photo at the location where they reforest mangroves in Tra Vinh Province, Vietnam, on September 19 (local time).

Recently, the whole world has been experiencing natural disasters such as floods, droughts, and earthquakes more frequently than ever before. Many of these disasters are the consequences of global warming, of which the main culprit is humans. Accordingly, human greed is also the reasons mangrove forests across the world has been destroyed, including the Northern part of Vietnam, where reckless development and aquaculture happened a lot in the late 20^th century. This meant not only the trees but also the lives of plants, animals, and even locals living in the mangrove areas had been hurt.

Being aware of the importance of mangroves and how urgent it is to save them, in 2018, SK Innovation started the Mangrove Reforestation Project in Tra Vinh Province, which is located in Northern Vietnam. Since then, members of the company and its partners has been frequently participating in the mangrove seedling planting and other related volunteer activities in Tra Vinh every year, showing the sincere effort to protect the Earth and create a better life for the local community.

On September 19 (local time), 21 members of SK Innovation’s Ulsan Complex (hereinafter Ulsan CLX) volunteered to plant 2,000 mangroves in Tra Vinh Province, Vietnam. Ulsan CLX has been participating in the mangrove reforestation project by donating 100 million KRW to the 1% Happiness Sharing Fund every year.

▲ Members of Ulsan CLX participate in planting mangroves in Tra Vinh Province, Vietnam, on September 19 (local time).

The members who participated in this volunteer activity all believed that through their participation in the mangrove planting activity, they were able to understand how significantly the forest was contributing to the global environment.

 ▲ Members of Ulsan CLX participate in planting mangroves in Tra Vinh Province, Vietnam, on September 19 (local time).

Park Sung-kil, Head of the Crude Oil and Petroleum Offsite Office, SK Energy, and the leader of the Ulsan CLX volunteer group, said, “Not only Ulsan CLX but all members of SK Innovation’s affiliates are making a lot of efforts to reduce carbon, so it was such a meaningful day for me and the Ulsan CLX members to be able to directly participate in the mangrove reforestation activity, a practical program that embodies the ESG management of our company.” “I hope that SK Innovation’s social contribution and carbon reduction activities will keep expanding and being active.”

After the mangrove planting activities, the Ulsan CLX volunteer group visited MangLub, the first social enterprise in Tra Vinh. MangLub was established with the support of SK Innovation and other Vietnamese partners in 2019 to manage the mangrove reforestation project in Vietnam and create more social values through other activities such as environmental education, cooperation with local schools, universities, etc. According to MangLub CEO Kim Hang-sok, the mangrove reforestation project carried out by SK Innovation is attracting people’s interest not only in Vietnam but also other countries as currently a few global shipping and logistics companies have visited Tra Vinh to take part in the mangroves planting programs operated by MangLub. In addition, the volunteer members were quite surprised to learn from CEO Kim Hangsok about the superb carbon capture capacity and carbon reduction effect of the mangrove forest, the so-called “lungs of Asia”.

▲ Current status of the mangrove forests in Tra Vinh restored by SK Innovation, local partners and local residents in 2020 and 2021.

On the next day, September 20, Ulsan CLX volunteer group first visited the former planting site where SK Innovation planted mangrove seedlings with local Vietnamese residents in 2020 and 2021, and examined the mangrove trees that have been growing quickly since then. By reaching this year’s reforestation objective of 52 hectares (ha), the total area of mangroves restored by SK Innovation will reach 188 ha with over 700,000 new trees, which is estimated to have the effect of reducing 6,400 tons of carbon.

▲ Ulsan CLX volunteers take a group photo with the students of My Long Nam Elementary School located in Hamlet 2, My Long Nam Village, Cau Ngang Town, Tra VInh Province, Vietnam, on September 20 (local time).

Afterwards, Ulsan CLX volunteer group visited My Long Nam Elementary School in Hamlet 2, My Long Nam Village, Cau Ngang Town, Tra Vinh Province. They distributed school supplies and snacks to local children, and enjoyed making solar energy toys and playing balloons popping games with the children. The members said that the experience with the local students was unforgettable as they were able to help the children learn more about eco-friendly energy and the importance of environment protection. 

▲ (Left) Park Sung-kil, Head of Crude Oil and Petroleum Offsite Office, SK Energy (left) represents the volunteer group to deliver gifts for My Long Nam elementary school students on September 20 (local time) / (Right) Ulsan CLX volunteers help the students make solar-energy toys during their visit to My Long Nam elementary school in Tra Vinh Province 

Visiting elementary schools in Tra Vinh Province has always been a program took place after the Ulsan CLX members participated in mangrove planting activity. Through this program, the company try to let the local children have better understanding about the importance of eco-friendliness and mangrove forests. Each time, along with the gifts like snacks and school supplies, the volunteers also participate in multiple activities with the young students despite the language barrier, sharing sweet memories together.

During their trip to Tra Vinh, Ulsan CLX volunteers also learn about how to estimate the amount of carbon reduction by observing the demonstration shown by the CEO and staff of MangLub at the site. In order to measure the amount of carbon that can be reduced through the Mangrove Reforestation Project in Vietnam, last year SK Innovation had registered the carbon credit methodology through the SK Carbon Reduction Certification Center, and conducted pilot measurement and education to MangLub this July.

It is said that the environment we enjoy now is what we borrowed from the future. Therefore, to bring a clean and green earth to the next generations, SK Innovation will continue to carry out the Mangrove Reforestation Project, creating more environmental to respond to climate change and preserve biodiversity, as well as more social values to improve the standard of living for the local community.