국제사회의 ESG 대응과 한국의 과제(Global Perspectives on ESG and Implications for Korea )

환경, 사회 및 지배구조(ESG)를 고려하는 국제사회의 노력이 강화되는 가운데 본 연구는 정부 및 민간 차원의 ESG 대응을 위한 시사점을 도출하였다. 국제사회의 ESG 논의 쟁점 및 EU 중심으로 논의되고 있는 공급망 실사의 주요 쟁점과 국내 대응을 정리하였다. 또한 주요국의 기업을 대상으로 ESG에 대응한 성과를 비교 분석하고, 기업에 파급할 영향을 실증적으로 분석하였다. ESG standing for Environmental, Social and Governance has recently emerged as an important subject in the international community. Economic activities considering ESG are being strengthened, and the importance of ESG-related reporting and information disclosure is being emphasized. This study examines the global responses and major issues in ESG and analyzes the ESG scores of firms across major countries and impacts on employment and productivity. Based on these results, it aims to provide implications for government and private sector to address ESG. In Chapter 2, we examined ESG policy trends in selected countries and the key issues regarding implementation of ESG. The European Union plans to implement the new Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, revised existing Non-financial Reporting Directive, requiring more companies to report more detailed sustainability information on an annual basis from 2024. Moreover, the EU aims to establishing ESG ecosystem by introducing sustainable finance strategies as well as the EU taxonomy for environmentally sound economic activities. Recently, the United States has been promoting the enhancement of disclosure regulations, especially for climate-related information, mainly driven by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Asian countries such as South Korea, Japan, China, ASEAN, and India also place increased emphasis on voluntary or mandatory ESG-related information disclosure provisions and guidelines. Chapter 2 also covers main issues and challenges to be addressed by both Korean companies and government in dealing with ESG practices and policies. First, in order to improve the consistency and comparability of ESG information, it is necessary to integrate various disclosure standards and set up an internationally accepted common standards. Next, the ability of Small and Medium Enterprises to respond to changing landscape of ESG including data disclosure and due diligence duty is increasing important in attracting investment and participating in global supply chains. In addition, since ESG information is used as important basis for decision-making by companies, investors, financial institutions, consumers, and regulators, companies need to make great efforts to improve the quality of ESG data while government should design policy to facilitate these efforts. (the rest omitted)