A fundamental transformation into an eco-friendly energy company that considers the future of the company and the future of the Earth
An eco-friendly, future-oriented vision drawn through investment in renewable energy
Doosan Enerbility is the new name of Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction, a company familiar to us. Doosan Heavy Industries—which, with power-generation-equipment businesses such as coal-fired and nuclear power as its mainstay, had even been designated a company at high risk of becoming a stranded asset—began drawing attention as a key company positioned to contribute to carbon neutrality as it increased investment in the eco-friendly energy field. In 2020, keeping pace with government policy, it greatly strengthened investment in eco-friendly fields and received A+, the highest grade, in ESG evaluation. It was decisive that the Doosan Group pursued an active ESG management strategy centered on what is now Doosan Enerbility. Having published an integrated report—equivalent to a sustainability report—every July for more than 10 years since 2013 is also a reason Doosan Heavy Industries came to hold the title of ESG honor student.
Doosan Enerbility's Sustainable Management 1. An Environmental Management System and Investment in an Eco-Friendly Ecosystem
Doosan Enerbility established the vision "Endeavoring toward a Sustainable & Green Future 2050"—sustainable growth through ceaseless effort and a transition to eco-friendly business—and set three management strategies to realize it. The gist is to place the value of environmental safety first in all business activities, to comply with environmental laws related to business activities, and to develop eco-friendly technologies and products for environmental conservation. In 2010, it obtained ISO 14001 certification, which evaluates environmental management systems, and it has since systematically managed the environmental performance of all business sites and all processes.
[Doosan Enerbility's 2050 carbon-neutrality roadmap ©2023 Doosan Enerbility Integrated Report]
In July 2023, Doosan Enerbility completed demand forecasting in Asia, Europe, and elsewhere and confirmed the issuance of a green bond(*) in the form of a three-year, 300-million-dollar Eurobond (Reg S). Beyond transforming its business portfolio toward eco-friendly business, it decided to lead full-fledged investment in eco-friendly business. Doosan Enerbility established a management framework for this green-bond issuance and also obtained certification from the global ESG certification body "S&P Global." It plans to use the funds secured through the green-bond issuance entirely in the eco-friendly energy field, such as renewable energy including wind power, and wind-turbine blade and waste-battery recycling. That Doosan Enerbility issued a green bond as an eco-friendly energy company is also the will of Chairman Park Gee-won. Chairman Park, starting as head of Doosan Heavy Industries' planning and coordination office in 2001, has been through the entire process from Doosan Heavy Industries to becoming Doosan Enerbility. Since taking office as chairman in 2016, he has emphasized the importance of the eco-friendly energy business and has led Doosan Enerbility's fundamental transformation by carrying out organizational restructuring and new-business initiatives to move away from the existing plant business toward a new energy-solutions business.
*Green bond: also called a green bond (noksaek chaegwon), a bond issued to raise funds to invest in eco-friendly projects and related social infrastructure that contribute to environmental improvement.
Doosan Enerbility's Sustainable Management 2. Transition to a Low-Carbon Economy
The title of Doosan Enerbility's integrated report is "Energy Toward Sustainability." A particularly notable point in the 2023 report is that the disclosure scope for greenhouse-gas emissions information was expanded. Doosan Corporation has declared a 20% reduction in greenhouse gases by 2023 compared with 2018, and Net Zero (net greenhouse-gas emissions of 0) in 2050. Accordingly, it completed third-party verification not only of greenhouse gases generated directly and indirectly at business sites but also of other indirect emissions generated outside business sites, and disclosed the figures for the first time this year. As a result, direct and indirect emissions were found to be 79,733 tons, down 9,942 tons (12.5%) from the previous year.
[Doosan Enerbility's R&D process ©2023 Doosan Enerbility Integrated Report]
As a company engaged in the energy business, Doosan Enerbility recognizes that a "transition to a low-carbon economy" is important for securing sustainability. To this end, it has established and is carrying out a core strategy to accelerate its eco-friendly-portfolio transformation centered on four areas—renewable energy, gas turbines, hydrogen, next-generation nuclear power. Beyond responding to environment-related laws and regulations such as carbon border taxes and taxonomy, it is also striving to effectively reduce carbon emissions through improvements in business energy efficiency for actual low-carbon product manufacturing. Through GEMS (Green Energy Management System), it also carries out company-wide management, setting greenhouse-gas reduction targets for each business division in connection with the national greenhouse-gas emission-allowance quota and the company's carbon-neutrality goals, and monitoring greenhouse-gas emissions from energy use in real time each month.
The Future of a Sustainable Energy Industry
Recently, Doosan Enerbility announced that it would establish a subsidiary specializing in battery recycling, "Doosan Recycle Solution," to build a commercial production facility, and it is also accelerating the expansion of renewable-energy businesses such as clean-hydrogen production through wind power. It has also developed battery-recycling technology. The technology Doosan Enerbility developed in-house to recover lithium from waste batteries holds great significance in that it is an eco-friendly processing technology that dramatically reduces greenhouse-gas generation and saves resources compared with the method of mining lithium from nature, such as mines.
Doosan Enerbility expressed its will to secure sustainability by using the energy technology it holds to enrich human life and make the Earth cleaner. We look forward to the results that will appear in next year's integrated report, to be released in July.
by Editor L