■ SK Innovation management held the first strategic meeting of the new year in the CES 2022 venue

– Chose “Carbon Neutrality” as the first management issue for the year 2022, checked and discussed action plans by different businesses

– Declared the first “carbon neutral commute/business trip” among South Korean companies, showing a solid commitment to Net Zero

■ Vice Chairman Kim Jun: “Net Zero is our aim that must be realized for a sustainable future and the end destination of ‘Carbon to Green.’ We should devote ourselves to Net Zero efforts and push the plans as hard as we can”

SK Innovation selected “carbon neutrality” as the new year’s management issue. SK Innovation held the first strategic meeting for the year 2022 in the CES 2022 venue, where the top management including Vice Chairman Kim Jun presented on the morning of January 6, 2021 (PST).

Vice Chairman Kim Jun and the top management attended the meeting to examine the Net Zero strategies of SK Innovation’s affiliates and to determine precise implementation measures. Following the meeting, they inspected numerous exhibition booths showcasing new growth engines and future technologies associated with eco-friendly businesses for the Carbon to Green innovation and attempted to explore growth strategies.

In its Financial Story presentation meeting held in July last year, SK Innovation declared a “Carbon to Green” strategy supporting its resolution to transform its carbon-oriented business structure into a green-based one. Furthermore, the corporation revealed its goal of reaching Net Zero GHG emissions by 2050.

Under the SK Group’s Net Zero pledge, SK Innovation’s affiliates discussed their carbon neutrality action plans during the strategic meeting. The gathering demonstrated that the SK Group’s “carbon neutrality” pledge had been internalized as a major management strategy for individual member companies.

“Net Zero is our goal for a sustainable future and the eventual destination of ‘Carbon to Green,'” Vice Chairman Kim Jun stated. “As a result, we should devote ourselves to Net Zero efforts and push them as hard as we can.”

Following that, SK Innovation affiliates provided their plans for GHG emission reduction in accordance with scope 1, 2, and 3, with an address of implementation methods as well as mid- and long-term upgrade plans. They examined comprehensive implementation metrics of enterprises’ “carbon neutrality,” such as accelerating investments in battery/material businesses and Net Zero refineries.

Moreover, they examined this year’s objectives and directions for completely launching a circular economy business model comprising, among other things, SK Innovation’s battery metal recycling (BMR), SK Geo Centric’s plastic waste recycling, and SK Lubricants’ waste lubricant oil recycling. They also shared global carbon reduction effects through eco-friendly businesses such as SK Innovation’s battery business and carbon capture and storage, in line with SK Group’s group-wide global carbon reduction target of 0.2 billion tons, re-emphasizing SK Innovation’s critical part in realizing the Net Zero goal.

As the strategy conference came to a close, Vice Chairman Kim Jun and the management announced the introduction of “carbon neutral commute/business trip” for the first time for a domestic enterprise as part of a strong commitment to attaining “carbon neutrality.”

The gist of SK Innovation’s proposed “carbon neutral commute/business trip” is to offset net carbon emissions to zero for 12,000 tons of annual GHG emissions generated by commutes and domestic/international business trips of SK Innovation affiliates by purchasing voluntary carbon credits from the global deforestation prevention project. To counteract the amount of carbon, a forest three times the size of Yeouido is required. Last year’s World Economic Forum urged firms to reduce the amount of carbon emitted by commutes in the post-Covid era.

SK Innovation also revealed that, in addition to voluntary purchases of carbon credits, they would be committed to reducing the generation of carbon itself by “innovation in working practices,” such as the expansion of work-from-home/remote working.

Vice Chairman Kim Jun will join the Boards of Directors of key firms in order to accelerate the implementation of the Carbon to Green strategy and reinforce responsible management.

“This year’s first strategic meeting underlined SK Innovation’s strong commitment to achieving ‘carbon neutrality,’” stated Kim Woo-kyung, Head of PR Office at SK Innovation. “In order to achieve SK Group’s carbon neutrality, all companies of SK Innovation will enhance executive capability for the Carbon to Green plan.”

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(Photo 1, 2) Vice Chairman & CEO of SK Innovation Kim Jun (first from left) and the top management of SK participate in the first strategic meeting of 2022 at CES 2022

(Photo 3) From left: CEO of SK IE Technology Roh Jae-sok, Head of Corporate Strategy & Development Division of SK Innovation Kim Cheol-jung, Vice Chairman & CEO of SK Innovation Kim Jun, and the top management of SK tour around SK booth at CES 2002

(Photo 4) Vice Chairman & CEO of SK Innovation Kim Jun (first from left) experience SK booth at CEO 2022.