“For sustainable development and transparent capital market” 2023 Global ESG Lecture Series Successfully Finished

Scholars on domestic ESG gathered around to analyze and discuss urgent problems in corporate and industry.

‘2023 Global ESG Lecture Series for the prospect of ESG management’ hosted by KUBS ESG Research Center (Head= Jaehyuk Lee) was successfully held in the LG-POSCO building on the following 3 days: 2nd, 9^th, and 16th of this month. The lecture invited great scholars in each ESG field to share the main agendas regarding ESG of domestic enterprises and industries this year, and discuss action plans that academic and industrial fields can respond. Each session consisted of lectures on each component of ESG: ∆ Environmental ∆ Social ∆ Governance. In this lecture, professor Yongsik Ok from the Department of Environmental Science and Ecological Engineering who is currently president of the International ESG Association, Enkyung Lee UNGC (=UN Global Compact) Network Korea Chief and KUBS professor Woochan Kim gave lectures on each component of ESG management to all Korea University members. Each lecture introduced basic concepts and the latest research trend of ESG and analyzed key issues with prospects on ESG management. Also, the lecture aimed to educate ESG experts and improve their interest and understanding of ESG management among KU members. 

 On the 2nd, the series began with a lecture from Department of Environmental Science and Ecological Engineering professor Yongsik Ok on the prospect of E(environment) among ESG. With 76 participants, professor Ok introduced the concept of Net Zero, climate change, RE100, carbon neutrality, circular economy, and biodiversity. Also, he focused on the sustainability of business and understanding relationships of initiative, then assessed ESG report from a company along with finding improvement. Especially, he emphasized the importance of ‘sustainable spending’ in the post-COVID era and discussed the importance of eco-friendly, ethical values with the value of the green business. One student said “The lecture was of high quality and I liked the content of the presentation.”, and “QnA session after the lecture was a great help too.”

 On the 9th, Enkyung Lee UNGC Network Korea Chief gave a lecture on prospects and responses to S (society). With 61 participants, Chief Lee mentioned  ∆ Reinforcing responses on regulation and announcements  ∆ Reinforcing ESG data management ∆ Staff Internalization, ESG company culture, and introducing UNGC activities. Especially she describes Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are all directly and indirectly reflect international human rights law and 92% out of 169 specific goals are related to key international human rights and labor standards. She also emphasized that companies should work on practical efforts to respect human rights and its legislation. Students showed satisfaction with the lecture through a survey after the lecture series. One student said, “I was interested in the UN and it was a meaningful time to learn something more deeply and apply it to the real world”.

 On the last day 16th, KUBS professor Woochan Kim gave a lecture on the prospect of G (governance) among ESG. With 72 participants, professor Kim introduced the concept of enterprise governance, shareholder activism, inside a trading notification, mandatory tender offers, and cases on real companies. Based on that, professor Kim debated on insight for transparency, fair governance of a company, and ways to restore the trust of capital markets. After the lecture, students said “It was easy to understand and absorbing lecture.”, “We found it interesting with lots of real cases and hope these lectures also open on a regular basis.

 Professor Yongsik Yong is a researcher in 3 fields including environmental ecology, engineering, biology & biochemical (HCR), and has been chosen to 2022 32 Most influential scientists in the world. Professor Ok published 107 highly cited articles, marking the record for Korean researchers. 95% of his articles are the product of international cooperation research programs and 91.4% of them have been chosen as the top 10% of articles in each field of study. Also, professor Ok and center head Jaehyeok Lee started the first forum with Nature that deals with ESG and global sustainability in August 2022.

  Enkyung Lee UNGC Network Korea Chief who lectured on S (Society) had been appointed to the Ministry of Environment K-SDGs index work group researcher in 2018 and 2020. She also worked as ESG and gender diversity consultant for the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, a member of the industry policy research sustainability subcommittee for the Ministry of Industry, a company, and human rights consultant for the Ministry of Justice, a member of Anti-Corruption & Civil Rights Commission council of public-private partnerships for integrity Economics subcommittee. Also, she continues her active writing including   ⌜Social Responsibility for UN and Company⌟, ⌜The World is My Mentor⌟. 

Professor Woochan Kim who gave a lecture on G (governance) is a KUBS professor and at the same time ECGI (European Corporate Governance Institute) member studying research activities on corporation law and financial management. Professor Kim showed an empirical study on the economic effect of corporate governance innovation for the last 20 years using Korean corporate data. For his contribution to domestic corporate governance innovation, he won the grand prize in 2022 Korea Corporate Governance in the academic sector.