2025 was a year in which global interest in K-pop exploded with the success of the Netflix original animation <K-Pop Demon Hunters>. K-pop artists won major music awards overseas, and the elevated status of K-pop could be confirmed as major international award ceremonies newly established K-pop categories. Accordingly, the number of idol groups conducting world tours is increasing, and the reach of K-pop is expected to expand further, with so-called ‘export-type idols’ who receive more love overseas than in Korea emerging.
[YG 2024 Sustainability Report Cover Ⓟ YG]
As more people pay attention, those turning their eyes toward the sustainability of K-pop are also increasing. Behind the glamour of K-pop — from the scene of purchasing and discarding albums made of materials difficult to recycle as if they were fan sign tickets, to the changing facilities and custom-made costumes for each stage — lie environmental issues that cannot be ignored.
Like G-Dragon, the youngest recipient of the Order of Cultural Merit, and BLACKPINK, who received the Order of the British Empire, YG is a ‘prestigious K-pop house’ that has produced artists representing K-pop. YG, which broke a seven-year hiatus last year by unveiling the new female idol group BABYMONSTER and is actively active, is also putting considerable effort into ESG. Today, we examine YG’s sustainable management, which is writing records of firsts in the domestic entertainment ESG field, including obtaining the international standard for occupational health and safety management systems set by the International Organization for Standardization, presenting the concept of sustainable performances, and strengthening accessibility within concert venues.
The Impact of Climate Change on Entertainment
The entertainment business, having no production activities, has relatively low greenhouse gas emissions compared to other industries. However, if appropriate management policies for responding to climate change are not established, the activities of affiliated artists and, further, the brand image could take a hit.
Moreover, abnormal weather can inflict direct physical damage on corporate management activities. Weather anomalies such as wildfires, typhoons, and heatwaves are highly likely to generate unnecessary costs and unexpected accidents. For instance, if an accident occurs due to a natural disaster during the travel or operational process for an artist’s overseas or regional performance attendance, or if the artist’s condition is affected, this can act as a business risk.
Accordingly, YG is responding to risks by calculating the greenhouse gas emissions of performances, using new and renewable energy, improving the energy efficiency of its company building, and establishing guidelines by type of natural disaster. YG is also considering opportunity factors in which the company’s reputation and the market and social perception of its artists improve as a result of selling low-carbon, environmentally friendly products. It carries great significance from an ESG perspective that a company that sells intangible values such as brand image and music has reached a conclusion converging on the value of coexistence: that being eco-friendly is directly in the company’s interest.
The First Step to Eco-Friendliness Starts with Electricity
Given the nature of the entertainment industry, where nearly all corporate activities take place in the digital realm, the first greenhouse gas reduction and climate change response measure YG can take is to change the way it consumes electricity. In fact, with the goal of achieving RE100 by 2050, YG is establishing a plan to convert this year the power usage that accounts for 65% of Scope 1 and 2 to renewable energy.
[YG New Building Bird’s-Eye View Ⓟ YG]
To achieve this target, YG has installed solar power facilities at the new company building, the construction of which began in 2012, and is partially producing its own energy. It is reducing its purchase of external electricity by installing building-integrated photovoltaic modules and rooftop solar panels. As a result, in 2023, 3% of its annual electricity usage was replaced with self-produced new and renewable energy.
Beyond its own production of new and renewable energy, YG is also reviewing direct and indirect new and renewable energy purchase policies including PPA and REC platform transactions. In fact, in 2023, it purchased renewable energy equivalent to 5% of its annual electricity usage through RECs, and in 2024, it has a policy to expand that proportion to 30%. In addition, YG has made efforts to reduce its absolute electricity usage by optimizing the number of heating cycles through external temperature monitoring.
A New Vision: Sustainable Performances
YG defines performances as festive venues that move the emotions of countless people and lead them to action. A performance, as an occasion that can gather people with the same interests and lead to behavioral change, is not only an opportunity for fans and artists to breathe together but becomes an event of cultural significance. YG is pursuing projects to improve the environmental impact of such performances and the accessibility for disabled audience members.
A sustainable performance is one that minimizes the negative impacts of the performance on the environment and society and enhances the positive impacts. YG’s sustainable performances are being advanced in accordance with the ‘2030 Sustainable Performance Roadmap,’ which aims to produce all performances by YG-affiliated artists as sustainable performances by 2030, following preliminary work to derive KPIs.
[YG Sustainable Performance Report Cover Ⓟ YG]
YG’s first action to realize sustainable performances is to collect objective indicators of the greenhouse gases generated by performances. ‘YOUR GREEN STEP,’ first attempted at BLACKPINK’s concert, is a program that calculates the means of transportation used by audience members to travel from their residences to the concert venue and the approximate greenhouse gas emissions accordingly. Since then, AKMU’s concert and TREASURE’s concert have also measured the greenhouse gas emissions emitted by the audience using the same program, and have estimated the Scope 1–3 greenhouse gases generated per performance by calculating the greenhouse gases emitted during the performance operation process through a third-party institution. Based on this data, YG plans to establish work promotion processes, develop a framework, and utilize it for numerical improvement.
Beyond this, YG has collaborated with waste collection companies to reduce the environmental impact of waste generated during performances, secured seating for wheelchair-using audience members, and produced videos guiding access to the performance venue. This is a policy that considers not only the environment but also the social impact on audience members who attend performances, and is a point where one can glimpse YG’s deliberation on the cultural values that performances disseminate, going beyond environmental protection.
Like K-pop and K-beauty, Korean culture is spreading across the world bearing the ‘K’ brand. The sustainable management that YG practices across its corporate management and performance operations is significant in that it leaves ethical legitimacy for Korea’s soft power, as well as material and spiritual heritage for future generations. If you are curious about the ESG moves of domestic entertainment companies striving to deliver tangible and intangible values, take a look at YG’s sustainability report.
by Editor L