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Today (5th) June 5th is Environment Day.

These days, companies are promoting so-called ESG management in the sense that they consider the environment and fulfill their social responsibilities.



How far has ESG management come from in our society?



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Instead of getting rid of disposable cups, a coffee shop that uses multi-use cups for a deposit of 1,000 won.



Customers also participated in the goal of reducing plastic waste, and the cup recovery rate rose to the 80% level.



[Shin Hye-jin/Starbucks ESG manager: Ultimately, reusable cups are an attempt to lead a new coffee culture for personal cup use (this is a project.)]



Clothing repair service for clothing companies, label-free water bottles, straws Other examples of ESG management abound, such as beverages that have eliminated .



ESG that spread like a craze, its roots, goes back to the 1960s and 1970s, when environmental destruction began in earnest after World War II.



Later, in response to the UN request to find a solution to environmental problems, after nearly four years of discussion, the 'Bruntland Report' is published, where the concept of 'sustainable development' appears for the first time.



After going through the financial crisis, large European pension funds raised the level of demand for corporate social responsibility.



As pension funds mainly make mid- to long-term investments, they were interested in long-term risks such as climate change.



[Lee Jae-hyeok/Professor of Business Administration, Korea University: (than in the past) much more sophisticated and less subjective (ESG) evaluation indicators appeared, allowing us to more objectively determine which company is more sustainable.]



However, there are still doubts about ESG.



It is not much different from the theory that emphasized social responsibility like 'ethical management' in the past.



Some have pointed out that it is just a marketing tool to package the corporate image with eco-friendliness at the forefront.



Despite these controversies, in Korea as well as in Europe, the mandatory disclosure of ESG activity details by company will be implemented soon.



(Video coverage: Oh Young-chun, Video editing: Park Ji-in, CG: Choi Ha-neul)