Corporate and Sustainability The Beginning of Sustainability
A company's competitive edge lies in 'sustainability'
Declaration of Sustainable Management and ESG Management
Executives Reshuffled and Organization Restructured... Focusing on 'Sustainable Growth'
The Future of Companies Now Lies in 'Sustainability' Rather Than Technology
Sustainable Management Becomes a Key Topic for Businesses
Economy
Environment
Social Value
Sustainable Management Built on the Coexistence of Economic, Environmental, and Social Values
Sustainable Management
What is sustainable management?
Hello, I’m Professor Jongdae Kim from Inha University
I established the ESG Center at the Institute for Sustainability Research and currently serve as its director
I am engaged in lectures and research activities on ESG
a topic that many companies have been discussing recently
What I want to talk about today is
'The Root of ESG' I would like to discuss its roots in relation to ESG
I would like to begin by discussing
sustainable development and how it has evolved
into sustainable management
Additionally, although it's not commonly used these days
I will discuss the current state of CSR
It's evolutionary stages, and how it is progressing
Along with that, I will cover the overall
history, background, development, and concept of ESG trends
The Beginning of Sustainability: The Brundtland Report
As you all know, in 1987, UNEP
UNEP's WCED
In Korean, it's called the World Commission on Environment and Development
have released a report
This is the report titled 'Our Common Future,' which you all know well
It is 'Our Common Future'
It was a highly monumental work
The individual who managed this project overall was
a person named Brundtland, who was the former Prime Minister of Norway
so this report is also referred to as the Brundtland Report
Basically, this report
was based on the recognition
that environmental destruction and resource depletion pose a threat
to the sustainability of social and economic systems
It was conducted with the aim of diagnosing the current state of the relationship between the environment and society
as well as the environment and economic development, while also presenting future directions
In summary, it is about humanity
It is a report that reflects on the relationship between humanity and the natural environment
You can think of it this way
The concept defined here is sustainable development
Will future generations be able to enjoy a life as prosperous as ours?
You can see that it started from such reflections and concerns
It is the structural problem of the existing capitalist economic system
The first issue is the environmental destruction and resource depletion
The second issue is income inequality
As economic growth continues with such structural problems
there is a growing sense of crisis that humanity
and the planet will eventually face collapse
Therefore, these three aspects must be pursued in a balanced manner simultaneously
They all start with E
Economy, Ecology, Equality
Ecology and Economy, Ecology and Society, Society and Economy
These are interconnected
and if one axis collapses
the others cannot be maintained
In two ways, economic inequality between regions and classes is a social problem
This can also be seen as economic inequality and environmental issues
between the present and future generations
This report can be seen
as an effort focused on these two issues
aiming to propose solutions
The most outstanding aspect
of this report regarding sustainability is
its emphasis on an integrated approach
Sustainability addresses the fundamental issues of the capitalist economic system
which is based on a liberal market economy
It recognizes the interconnected structural problems within this system
Environmental destruction, resource depletion, and income inequality
These are deeply intertwined
Therefore, balanced development must occur simultaneously
reinforcing an integrated perspective
The fact that sustainability encompasses not only the environment
but also a wide range of socio-environmental issues
such as social justice, inclusion, human rights, and intergenerational equality
is also due to the integrated perspective of this report
So, sustainable development
has primarily been discussed at a macro level, focusing on economic policies
However, when its ideology, principles, and philosophy
move into the practical stage
it transforms into operational and management strategies at the corporate level
That's how the term sustainable management was born
Business + Sustainability = the beginning of Sustainable Management
We have been using sustainable management in earnest since the mid-1990s
And we had to take action to pursue sustainability
So, at the macroeconomic level
what can be done in policy making is regulation
Environmental laws started to become much more stringent
We have greatly developed environmental management by
creating areas called Green Management
and Environmental Management
This is really focused on environmental issues
Because environmental management
has many very important, practical issues
and if not resolved, enormous costs will be incurred