On 23rd May, the 1st ESG Global Standard Conference was successfully held at Glad Yeouido, Seoul. The conference was hosted by the CDP Korea and co-sponsored by BDO Sunghyun and the Korean Accounting Association.
This conference, which approximately 250 participants attended, including ESG officials from financial institutions and domestic companies, received many positive responses from attendees in the aspect of not only examining the status of ESG disclosure and evaluation of domestic companies but also sharing best practices of Scope3 measurement, supply chain management, climate scenarios, and ESG-based investment and presenting realistic solutions by inviting ESG experts from Korea and overseas.
The conference began with a welcoming speech by Jee In Jang, chairman of the CDP Korea, and a congratulatory message from Chang Hyun Yoon, a National Assembly member and of Seung Won Yoo, president of the Korean Accounting Association.
Part 1 began with Daegu University Professor Joon Hee Jung and Daniel Klier, CEO of ESG Book, a global ESG disclosure platform, reviewing the trend related to Korean and global ESG disclosure and evaluation and suggesting a future direction based on disclosure and evaluation methods using ESG Book.
In Part 2, Professor Yong Sang Choi from Ewha Womans University discussed the current status of climate risk management in Korean companies and financial institutions. For the following speech, Jake Jurewicz, Head of Transition Risk & Strategic Projects at Cervest, a UK-based climate intelligence platform in the UK, was invited and highlighted TCFD-based climate risk management and techniques utilizing AI tools.
In Part 3, Ajit Padbidri, Climate Strategies Associate Director of a climate consulting firm South Pole gave a presentation on ‘Overcoming challenges in Scope3 accounting and reporting for companies.’ Daniel Klier of ESG Book came on the stage again and introduced best practices of systematic supply chain management using IT and presented improvement plans.
Finally, in Part 4, Hiroshi Amemiya, ESG Book Asian Partner, shared a case study of sustainable finance in Japan utilizing ESG evaluation data. In the following section, Gabriel Karageorgiou, Head of Client Solutions at Arabesque, known as a sustainable finance company, presented ‘The way of financial institutions to lead climate change.’
“This conference was well received by many participating companies, providing an opportunity to discuss ESG global trends and countermeasures and seek practical solutions for corporate ESG strategies,” said Jong Chul Jung, Head of the BDO Sunghyun ESG Center, who planned and hosted the conference, and added “Since this conference ended in success with more applicants than we expected, we are planning to hold the conference in a regular basis in the future.”
