Issue Focus

The importance of ESG for sustainable management has been highlighted as corporate uncertainty has accelerated due to the COVID-19 outbreak in early 2020. However, for the evaluation of the ESG level of a company, the composition of the evaluation index and the evaluation method (pointing and weighting for each item, etc.) are somewhat different for each institution. Also, public access to the data is not easy. Recently, the government announced the K-ESG guidelines (2021.12) to complement the differences in ESG evaluation criteria for each institution. It is significant in that it provided standardized indicators for corporate ESG evaluation. However, it did not reflect the characteristics of each industry. According to the results of a survey on construction companies, interest in ESG management has grown since COVID-19. In addition, as we recognize the need for ESG management, large construction companies are securing the necessary capabilities. However, the smaller the size of the construction company, the more difficult it is to prepare a countermeasure for ESG management. Therefore, to revitalize ESG management in the construction industry, it is necessary to seek ‘preparation of guidelines’ and ‘methods for granting incentives’. In the survey, 37.5% of top construction companies answered that they do not know what to do about difficulties in implementing ESG management in the construction industry. Regarding the preparations for construction companies for ESG management in the construction industry, 50% of the construction companies ranked 51st to 100th answered ‘no separate preparation’. Based on the K-ESG proposed by the government, this study added and integrated indicators through expert meetings. Based on this, important ESG indicators for each sector were derived and a gap (GAP) analysis was conducted between the current level of construction companies. As a result, the level of construction companies in all fields of ESG (environment, society, governance) is not high. In particular, it was found that small and medium-sized construction companies were weak in all areas of ESG compared to large construction companies. Among them, the governance sector was evaluated at a lower level than the environmental and social sectors. Based on the above results, preparations for future ESG management in the construction industry are summarized as follows. First, in the environmental field, it is necessary to prepare ‘energy saving’, ‘preparation of measures for waste treatment methods, etc.’, and ‘knowledge about environmental laws/regulations’. Next, in the social field, preparations are needed for ‘establishing a system for employee safety’, ‘efforts to attract new manpower’, ‘supporting ESG management of business partners’, and ‘building a personal information protection system’. In the field of governance, it is necessary to prepare for ‘management of serious accidents’, ‘implementation of ethical management’, ‘reasonable operation of the board of directors (reflecting diversity, expertise, etc.)’, and ‘security of audit organization expertise’. Lastly, in order for the ESG management of the construction industry to be implemented efficiently, it is essential that the construction companies themselves come up with a response plan for each size and the government's policy support plan.