Manufacturing can have itS environmental contribution assessed by reducing the greenhouse gases and hazardous substances generated in the process of making products, or by using methods that emit no carbon at the supply-chain level. So then, how does a company that provides intangible services establish and implement an ESG strategy? Today, let us look at the sustainability report of Hana Financial Group, which dreams of "finance that grows together and shares happiness."
[Hana Financial Group Sustainability Management Report © Hana Financial Group]
BIG STEP FOR TOMORROW
Under the ESG vision "BIG STEP FOR TOMORROW," Hana Financial Group has selected and is implementing 3 mid-to-long-term strategies and 9 concrete goals. Each detailed goal follows 10 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) presented by the UN.
[The UN Sustainable Development Goals © UN SDGs]
First, in the E (Environment) area, Hana Financial Group set the promotion of the transition to a low-carbon economic system as its mid-to-long-term strategy. To this end, in line with its coal-phase-out declaration, it restricts coal P/F (Project Financing, a financing method that raises funds against future revenue) and, while expanding ESG bond issuance, is expanding green finance and ESG-theme finance. Specifically, Hana Financial Group aims to raise a total of 60 trillion won by 2030 in the green and sustainable sectors, combining ESG bonds, loans, and investments. While providing funds to companies continuing eco-friendly moves, it also pursues a method of excluding carbon-intensive industries from its investment destinations. It induces businesses in high-carbon-emitting sectors to transition into eco-friendly companies by introducing carbon-reduction facilities or reducing carbon emissions themselves in order to attract investment. In addition, efforts continue to make the greenhouse-gas emissions generated at Hana Financial Group's sites zero by 2050. It has also set concrete goals of a 42% reduction by 2030 compared with 2020, and a 75% reduction by 2040. It plans to practice these goals by improving energy efficiency and expanding new and renewable energy.
Finance That Contributes to Customers and Society
Hana Financial Group's mid-to-long-term strategy in the S (Social) area is "social contribution through finance." Hana Financial Group practices social contribution through two approaches: mutual-cooperation activities and social-contribution activities. Mutual-cooperation activities are divided into common programs and autonomous programs; a representative common program is the banking sector's common livelihood-finance support plan, decided through the Financial Services Commission's task force for preparing a banking-sector livelihood-finance support plan in December 2023. This is a plan to ease, to a certain level, the interest burden that rose after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, providing interest refunds to borrowers holding sole-proprietor loans. Hana Financial Group provided a total of 194.4 billion won through the common program, and additionally provided 147.9 billion won through an autonomous program it prepared on its own, practicing total support of 342.3 billion won. In addition, by providing 294.5 billion won to social-contribution activities such as Mecenat (private-sector arts patronage), local-community and public-interest support activities, and microfinance activities, the scale of the social contribution Hana Financial Group made over the single year of 2024 reached 641.8 billion won.
Meanwhile, Hana Financial Group is carrying out the "Hana Power On Project" as a social-value-creation program to practice the group's vision of "finance that grows together and shares happiness" and to create a society where all members are happy. This project is divided into a Challenge program that supports youth internships and start-ups, a Care program that supports the socially disadvantaged, and a Community program that supports areas that enrich life, such as sponsorship of sports and the arts.
[Hana Financial Group's ESG project "Hana Power On" © Hana Financial Group]
Among these, the Hana Power On Challenge program is Hana Financial Group's flagship social-value-creation program. This project is divided into "Hana Social Venture University," which raises young people's start-up capabilities; "Innovative Enterprise Internship," which connects social-innovation enterprises with people with disabilities, women with career gaps, and young job seekers; "Hana ESG Double Impact Matching Fund," which financially supports the growth of social enterprises; and "Second Life," which supports the continued economic activity and social participation of mid-career and older talent. The Hana Power On Challenge program, which encompasses various strata of society and all ages who have entered society — social enterprises, youth, the middle-aged and older — produces thousands of participants and participants who achieve real results each year, creating social value while also contributing to the diversity of social-value-creation activities.
The Process That Raises the Value of ESG Finance
The mid-to-long-term strategy in the G (Governance) area, ESG's final area, is decision-making based on transparency and responsible management. To systematically manage environmental and social risks in the loan and investment decision-making process, Hana Financial Group operates an Environmental and Social Risk Management Framework (ESRM). ESRM is a standard for identifying, assessing, and managing the potential environmental and social risks of corporate finance, investment and advisory services, project finance, and securities-issuing institutions, based on Hana Financial Group's policy and industry policy. It also added an effort to strengthen the system by applying the K-Taxonomy (the Korean-type green taxonomy) to the standard it established on its own. Through this process, Hana Financial Group can manage the group's portfolio in a more environmentally friendly way.
[Hana Financial Group's ESG financial services © Hana Bank Corporate Banking]
In addition, Hana Financial Group provides services that help other companies with sound ESG management by supporting the various procedures needed for ESG management. At Hana Bank's Corporate ESG Lounge, since ESG management is directly linked to a company's investment attraction and regulation, companies can receive consulting services in which the financial company itself resolves ESG-management difficulties and presents customized solutions. It also helps companies' ESG transition and expansion by providing various services that are needed for ESG management but were not easily accessible — such as a greenhouse-gas emissions calculation program and corporate ESG education. Beyond this, Hana Financial Group operates various systems and guidelines for customers of all strata of society who use its products and services — such as operating mobile branches for the elderly, supporting Gyeonggi Province's child meal cards to address meal blind spots, introducing text-consultation-only tablets for hearing-impaired and hard-of-hearing customers, and introducing braille security cards for the visually impaired. Because financial life is a service used by everyone living in society, Hana Financial Group continues multifaceted activities to make finance where "everyone" is happy — not only customers, employees, and business owners, but reaching to the environment and society. If you are curious about what Hana Financial Group has done to become finance that grows together and shares happiness, take a look at Hana Financial Group's sustainability report.
by Editor L