SK bioscience identified 11 top-priority issues by adopting Double Materiality Assessment.

Company established three main agendas: Establishing net zero roadmap, Strengthening human rights management, Enhancing supply chain ESG management

SK bioscience, an innovative vaccine and biotech company committed to promoting human health from prevention to cure, today released its 2023 Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Report.

This is the company’s second ESG Report following last year to fulfill its commitment to engaging in sustainability in accordance with ESG principles under its long-term vision.

SK bioscience’s 2023 ESG Report complies with updated Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards 2021, one of the most widely used ESG reporting frameworks in the world.

Additionally, SK bioscience has adopted the so-called ‘Double Materiality Assessment’, which includes both impact materiality and financial materiality. The double materiality assessment is designed to quantify the interaction between the company’s corporate finance, and society and the environment.

The company has completed the assessment by conducting media research, stakeholder surveys and peer benchmarking, followed by applying evaluation indicators focused on the bio industry.

As a result, a total of 24 issues have been identified, and 11 of them have been finalized as the company’s top priorities after assessing the materiality and impact of the issues from financial, social, and environmental perspectives.

Furthermore, SK bioscience highlighted its key performances in three agendas such as climate change, human rights, and supply chain ESG management.

To prioritize environmental management, SK bioscience established a ‘2031 Net Zero Roadmap’ to deliver net zero carbon emissions by 2031 and analyzed the financial impact of the net zero scenario.

To strengthen human rights management, the company identified the main issues from an employee survey to prepare a response roadmap for human rights.

To accelerate ESG management across the supply chain, the company implemented a risk diagnosis of its 46 partners by introducing an online platform called ‘Click ESG’ that would allow its partners to evaluate their own ESG management level.

To enhance the transparent corporate governance, the company disclosed major activities of Board of Directors and its committees and established a new performance evaluation program called ‘Board Skills Matrix (BSM).’

SK bioscience continues strive to meet global standards by achieving both economic value (EV) and social value (SV) based on aggressive investment and enhanced ESG management. Additionally, the company will proactively comply with the regulations and disclosure requirements to solidify its sustainability management system.

Separately, SK bioscience received an overall grade of A in the 2022 Listed Company ESG Assessment conducted by the Korea Council on Global Sustainability (KCGS) in November 2022.

The company also published a Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) Report containing business sustainability and response strategies to fight climate change for the first time in the pharmaceutical and bio industry.