The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, maintained by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), is the world’s largest biodiversity database that assesses the extinction risk of species across the globe. First published in 1964, the Red List, accumulated over 60 years since then, has established itself as a key tool for gauging the pace of ecosystem collapse, going beyond a mere list of species.
The Red List classifies species into nine categories based on extinction risk, ranging from ‘Extinct (EX)’ to ‘Least Concern (LC).’ Among the nine categories, the substantively threatened species consist of three categories: Critically Endangered (CR), Endangered (EN), and Vulnerable (VU). The basis for evaluation is five criteria including population decline rate, habitat area, population size, and quantitative extinction probability. Thanks to this system, governments and international organizations can objectively determine conservation priorities.
[Red List Ⓟ ESG.ONL/ESG Today]
The Red List species published by the IUCN in April 2025 reached 169,420 species. Among these, 47,187 species fall under the threatened categories — approximately 28% of all assessed species. Amphibians (41%), sharks and rays (37%), and corals (36%) account for particularly high threat ratios.
South Korea’s ecosystem is also not unrelated to the Red List. Indigenous species such as the Suwon tree frog, the spotted seal, and the oriental stork are listed in the IUCN Red List threatened categories. South Korea operates both the Ministry of Environment-designated endangered wildlife list and IUCN criteria in parallel, but discrepancies between the two lists sometimes arise due to differences in evaluation timing and methodology. Some experts point out that the domestic evaluation cycle should be shortened and alignment with IUCN criteria should be enhanced.
The Red List is also connected to ESG management. As the implementation of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework targets under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) — an international commitment to halt global biodiversity loss and transition to recovery (Nature Positive) by 2030 — accelerates, companies are under pressure to disclose whether their supply chains encroach upon the habitats of Red List threatened species. Financial institutions have also begun to incorporate biodiversity risks into their investment decision-making.
The IUCN Red List is a kind of warning system. Yet the true value of the list lies not in the data itself but in the will needed to connect this warning to policy reflection and action. Facing squarely the current state of global biodiversity — that is the task the Red List has been asking of us for 60 years.
by Editor O