[Book Introduction]
What is a “good” company?
A story of sustainability that companies need
What is a “good” company? Beyond simply providing good products at reasonable prices, this is now an era in which companies with sustainability capabilities are loved by consumers as good companies and become global companies. For a company to be equipped with sustainability, it must be able to receive a certain level of positive evaluation in terms of Environmental, Social, and Governance, that is, ESG. But it is not easy to take care of ESG when a company is already busy with its core business. Many therefore give up easily or leave it unattended. Seo Uk, the author who has dealt with ESG for more than twenty years, presents ESG Code as a core guide so that companies do not let ESG go so easily.
This book begins with an accurate definition of ESG and covers how global companies are applying ESG, how ESG management can be started, and how ESG management can be made sustainable. The author argues that ESG is not limited to a responsible department, and that true sustainability can be achieved only when the entire company cooperates in ESG management. This applies not only to manufacturing companies and large companies, but also to non-manufacturing companies and small and medium-sized enterprises. It is a must-read book for those who want to understand ESG accurately and not fall behind.
The ESG trend matters to every company.
A book for small and medium-sized enterprises in ESG blind spots
Is ESG really necessary for companies? Regardless of trends, companies that supply parts or provide auxiliary services to other companies may think that because they are not directly exposed to consumers, they do not need to consider sustainability. But that is a complacent thought. This is an era in which sustainability matters not only to companies that face the market, but to all companies. Companies now look at each other’s ESG assessment results before they do business, and investors put their money into companies that take ESG into account.
However, small and medium-sized enterprises in Korea are in blind spots of sustainability management and find it difficult to keep up with this flow. When they receive requests to submit ESG assessment materials full of difficult terminology, a failure to respond properly may even cost them business, and companies without a separate department in charge have no particular countermeasure. ESG Code, which contains an accurate definition of ESG and the ESG that companies need and how to practice it, was written for those companies. Even for those who know nothing at all about ESG, it sets out how to handle an assessment properly, so it is not too late to start now and work at it with this book.
ESG is connected to everyone’s survival.
Now is the time for everyone to act together
In 1992, the first Earth Summit on environment and development was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Since then, humanity has worked through various agreements to solve environmental and social problems it had long ignored, and that remains true today. Leading large companies such as Apple, Microsoft, and Google are investing millions of dollars to reduce greenhouse gases, and ESG Code analyses reports by BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, and explains in detail ESG management being practised around the world.
Unfortunately, however, Korea is not responding at a global level. Terms such as “ESG” and “climate change” have become widely known to the public, but active environmental management cases such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions and carbon credits are being implemented only by large companies or sizable public enterprises. Now, even small companies in Korea are business partners supplying parts to multinational companies. And as partners, if they cannot meet global ESG standards, not only corporate survival but also national competitiveness may weaken. Through ESG Code, the author says that when ESG management is internalised, small scale can actually work as an advantage, and shows that ESG competitiveness begins with small and medium-sized enterprises. Size and field do not matter. It is time for all of us to practise ESG together.
[Recommendations]
There are many books that deal with ESG management. But it is rare to find one that confronts the issue of supply chain sustainability directly, and does so in a humanistic language that is easy to understand. With every page, one feels the depth and sincerity Seo Uk has accumulated in the field for more than twenty years. ESG Code is an ESG guidebook that anyone who agrees with the author’s sense of the problem, “Once connected, one has no choice but to answer transparently,” must read.
- Ahn Byung-ok, Chairman of Korea Environment Corporation, former Vice Minister of Environment
ESG Code, which contains vivid voices from the business field, deals in depth with ESG strategies that companies must know for sustainable growth in the global business environment. The author emphasises that ESG is not a mere trend but a key factor that determines a company’s long-term survival and success. Also, this book was written for small and medium-sized enterprises and mid-sized companies in blind spots of sustainability management, which highlights its distinction from other ESG-related books. In particular, it explains the importance of ESG from the perspective of global supply chains and clearly presents the realistic challenges companies face and their solutions. I strongly recommend it as essential reading for all companies that seek to practise ESG management.
- Yoo Yeon-chul, Secretary-General of UN Global Compact Network Korea, former Ambassador for Climate Change, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Over many years of advisory work with Seo Uk, CEO of ECONINE, I came to feel deeply how sincerely she pours her heart into what she does. During that time, our company and employees learned a great deal and gained opportunities to grow together. Reading CEO Seo Uk’s book ESG Code, I was once again greatly stimulated by cases of global and domestic companies responding proactively to ESG. Rather than introducing ESG management simply to follow a trend or for transactions with clients, I renewed my resolve to look back at and improve our company from a sincere ESG perspective for corporate sustainability. I offer my deep gratitude.
- Kang Sang-woo, CEO of global group CTR Holdings
The author’s personal history of helping Korean companies and industries respond to environmental and sustainability challenges is interwoven, like warp and weft, with the story of how our economy and companies have responded and adapted. In ESG Code, the author compresses more than twenty years of professional experience and skill into a philosophy, a core code that can change the existing system. Hidden behind glamorous economic articles centred on large companies, the foundation of our economy is small and medium-sized enterprises. Without their change, there can be no response to climate change and changes in the global economic environment, no strengthening of fundamentals, no sustainable prosperity, and no abundant future. The modest neighbors we encounter on our commutes, you and I, are the protagonists who can solve the challenges of the future. In a global environment swirling with climate change, pandemics, and geopolitical events, the author takes the hands of you and me, who may feel diminished and alienated within the discourse of our economic newspapers covered with rather grand and unfamiliar foreign terms such as “shared value,” “ESG,” and “sustainability.” And in a warm humanistic language that all of us can understand, in Korean, the author deciphers the secret code. As the author says, not everyone needs to be mainstream, but small and medium-sized enterprises that understand and act on ESG Code will eventually become the centre of the future economy.
- Lee Eun-young, CEO of Gaia Consult, Korea’s first international development cooperation environmental and social safeguard advisory firm
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