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ESG MARKET & CASES
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ESG MARKET & CASES
Recycling 2 Million Mattresses Is Not the End: Raw Materials and Market Channels That Determine Circular Economy Profits
Analyzing the points where collection volume and circular economics diverge, through RetourMatras' case of collection, disassembly, and recycled raw material supply.
박소유 Editor · 09/20/2026
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ESG MARKET & CASES
Better Water Use Efficiency Doesn't Eliminate Scarcity: Corporate Water Management Through the Lens of Microsoft
류현진 Editor · 09/18/2026
ESG MARKET & CASES
Patagonia's Circular Economy Blind Spot: Tasks Left After 170,000 Repairs
KBR경영연구소 · 09/17/2026
ESG MARKET & CASES
Does Changing Eco-Friendly Materials Guarantee Success for Reusable Packaging? Return Rates and Logistics Determine Business Viability
이태민 Editor · 09/16/2026
ESG MARKET & CASES
Nike Shareholders Ask Again: Can the 2030 Reduction Targets Really Be Met?
최수진 기자 · 09/09/2026
ESG MARKET & CASES
Beyond Paper Checks: Hyundai Motor's Supply Chain ESG Moves to On-Site Verification at Mines and Smelters
Hyundai Motor conducted ESG written assessments for 2,086 suppliers and on-site audits for 25 suppliers in 2025, while 25 suppliers with potential regulatory violations completed corrective action plans. Independent third-party RCS Global audited 3 mines and smelters in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Indonesia, identifying 58 non-conformities (47 major, 11 minor), with corrective actions currently underway. Legal experts generally view the EU Omnibus Directive, which took effect in March 2026, as clarifying risk-based due diligence rather than simply reducing audit volume. Through a mutual growth agreement signed with the Korea Fair Trade Commission in July, primary suppliers are paid within an average of 10 days post-closing instead of the statutory 60 days, while tier-2 and tier-3 suppliers are supported through training, incentives, and shared growth payments (benefiting an estimated 5,500+ companies). Despite achievements such as achieving RE100 across all operations in Europe, North America, and India, expanding the depth of in-depth audits and securing visibility into tier-2 and tier-3 suppliers remain future tasks.
류현진 선임기자 · 08/10/2026
ESG MARKET & CASES
Incheon Int'l Airport Corporation, Equipped with an ESG Committee, Failed to Stop Rampant Issuance of Parking Passes
An audit by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport revealed that 31,265 regular parking passes—accounting for 84.5% of Incheon Airport's total 36,971 parking spaces—were issued without limit to employees and others. Short-term parking lots closest to the terminals were operated primarily for employees, reducing spaces available to general passengers by more than half. Numerous instances of private use were uncovered, including 1,220 cases of free parking during vacations, with waived fees amounting to 4.1 billion won in 2025 alone. As this occurred in a public enterprise equipped with an ESG committee and internal control systems, the gap between formal governance and substantive control has become a core issue. With improvement measures implemented in July sparking controversy over subsidiary discrimination, executing full recovery and disciplinary actions alongside equitable follow-up measures remains a pressing task.
강지혜 선임기자 · 07/10/2026
ESG MARKET & CASES
The Final Puzzle of Successful ESG Management: How to Design Organizational Culture
In 2026, ESG is in a paradoxical phase. While the US-driven backlash has reduced the usage of the term 'ESG,' regulations and practical demands are actually intensifying through EU CSRD/CBAM, Brazil's ISSB mandates, and South Korea's disclosure roadmap. Recent research and HR data show that corporate cultural orientation correlates significantly with ESG performance, employee satisfaction, and pride, suggesting that the success or failure of ESG depends on organizational culture rather than systems. Patagonia embedded its mission into its institutional and daily operations through benefit corporation conversion, ownership changes, environmental internships, and trust-based autonomy, realizing 'ESG driven by culture.' Unilever connected strategy, employee well-being, and ESG into a single operating system through the USLP, while global companies like Microsoft drive cultural shifts by linking executive compensation to sustainability metrics such as climate, workforce, and ethical AI. Principles of organizational culture design that South Korean companies can adopt include leadership internalization, institutionalization of values, employee participation experiences, speak-up cultures, and prudent compensation/KPI alignment. KBR's perspective is that as the regulatory phase deepens, only 'ESG embedded in culture' can withstand the post-ESG debate.
이지영 기자 · 06/30/2026
ESG MARKET & CASES
A New ESG Issue in the AI Era: How Data Center Power and Water Consumption Are Changing Corporate Sustainability
Driven by the proliferation of AI, global data center electricity demand is projected to surge from 415 TWh in 2024 to approximately 700 to 1,300 TWh by 2030 (945 TWh under the IEA baseline scenario), with demand for AI-specific data centers expected to increase approximately threefold over the same period. Water consumption per prompt varies significantly depending on the measurement methodology, ranging from about 0.26 mL (five drops of water) based on actual Google Gemini measurements to about 45 mL based on Mistral disclosures, while total global data center water consumption could rise from approximately 560 billion liters in 2023 to about 1.2 trillion liters by 2030. Microsoft reported that its total emissions increased by 23.4% compared to 2020 due to AI and cloud expansion, with Scope 3 (indirect emissions) accounting for approximately 97% of the total, bringing resource efficiency across the supply chain to the forefront as a key challenge. Domestic data center electricity demand is expected to grow at an annual average of 11% through 2028, and power applications for data centers in the Seoul metropolitan area alone reach approximately 20 GW (equivalent to 20 nuclear power plants), pointing to grid bottlenecks and supply imbalances as structural risks. The KSSB finalized Sustainability Disclosure Standards Nos. 1 and 2 based on the ISSB in February 2026, and under the Financial Services Commission's roadmap draft, ESG disclosures are scheduled to become mandatory for KOSPI-listed companies with assets of 30 trillion won or more starting in 2028, making data center power and water usage a 'disclosure item right next to the financial statements.'
박소유 책임기자 · 06/27/2026
ESG MARKET & CASES
ESG Dedicated Organizations: Time to Establish or Disband?
The questions are changing—the buzzword for 2026 is no longer whether there is a separate ESG department, but rather the simultaneous realization of two trends: on one hand, CSO and dedicated organizations being absorbed or reorganized into other functions, and on the other, 'internalization' across the entire company. Globally, it is a 'restructuring' rather than a 'retreat.' While some worry that CSO roles are being absorbed by CFO, risk, and legal departments, hiring demand and budgets remain robust, marking a shift from non-financial areas into the mainstream of management. The core issue is integration versus dilution. The moment ESG becomes 'everyone's job,' there is a risk that it degrades into 'no one's job' without authority and budgets, and side effects like greenhushing are reported. In Korea's reality, the establishment of ESG committees among the top 500 companies surpassed the halfway mark, rising from 53.7% in 2023 to around 57% recently (with significant industry deviations). The Financial Services Commission has presented a roadmap draft initiating mandatory disclosure starting in 2028 for assets of 30 trillion won or more beginning in February 2026, shifting the weight toward 'internalization and execution.' The essence lies in the structure of authority, data, and responsibility rather than the mere presence of a department. The real question should not be 'Do we have an ESG department?' but 'Is ESG actually changing our decision-making?'
이지영 기자 · 06/22/2026
