Senior Executive Vice President Chung Jae-hoon of Dong-A Socio Holdings and Secretary General Kim Chun-I of the Korean Federation for Environmental Movement (KFEM) pose after the former donating to the latter money to a campaign to restore natural circulation to restore the earth. (Photo: Dong-A Pharmaceutical)

Dong-A Socio Group has grown into the nation’s representative ESG company.

The group has been recognized for accelerating sustainable management activities, such as “principle management” and eco-friendly management based on the theme, “social responsibility: realization of health and happiness of human beings.”  

Dong-A Socio Holdings, the holding company of Dong-A Socio Group, Dong-A ST, which specializes in the production of drugs, and ST Pharm, each got an A grade in the 2021 ESG evaluation of listed companies, announced by Korea Corporate Governance Service (KCGS).

The KCGS grade for the ‘environment’, ‘social’, ‘governance’, and ‘overall’ categories in seven classifications were S, A+, A, B+, B, C and D, respectively. Companies which obtained an ‘A’ grade in the overall ESG category totaled 180.

Among 10 companies from the pharmaceutical/bio sector who were graded ‘A’ were three from Dong-A Socio Group. Since there are no pharmaceutical and bio companies with ‘S’ a ‘A+,’ companies with ‘A’ have been evaluated the highest.  

KCGS evaluated 950 listed companies on ESG this year. The Listed companies of Dong-A Socio Group are Dong-A Holdings, Dong-A ST and ST Pharm. All listed companies of the group have obtained an ‘A’ grade in the ESG overall category.

A noteworthy fact is that the three listed companies of Dong-A Socio Group were given a higher grade for the environment, social and governance categories.

In the social category, Dong-A Socio Holdings moved up one slot to an ‘A+’ while Dong-A ST leveled up two slots from ‘B+’ to ‘A+’ ST Pharm got ‘A’ instead of ‘B+’.

In the environment category, Dong-A ST and ST Pharm went up three slots to ‘B,’ while  Dong-A Socio Holdings went up two slots to ‘B+.‘ In the governance category, ST Pharm rose one slot to ‘A,’ while Dong-A Socio Holdings and Dong-A ST retained their grade of ‘A’.

In order to achieve the group’s mission to “endlessly challenge the health and happiness of human beings,” Dong-A Socio Holdings, the holding company of the group, established three tasks: Pursuing each company’s sustainable management; responsible development; and sustainable management through value investment for the future.

The group, recognizing a need for translating social justice into action with its corporate goals, also inaugurated the “Social Responsibility Consultation Committee” in 2020 to realize inside and society members’ happiness and sharing values. 

The Social Responsibility Consultation Committee, consisting of CEOs of the group’s subsidiaries, is charged with deliberating matters related to social responsibility and decision-making.

It analyzes each company’s social responsibility strategic tasks, shares progress, such as ESG trends and the current status of corporate social responsibility diagnosis and discusses how to overhaul and manage them.

Dong-A Socio became a member of the UN Global Compact (UNGC) in 2020. Dong-A Socio Holdings tries to internalize 10 principles in human rights, labor, environment, and anti-corruption sectors and does its best to realize the group’s sustainable development and social responsibility.

The group took time out to share the direction of its operation and future issues by participating in ESG and anti-corruption working-level meetings, organized by UNGC Network Korea.

In particular, the group focuses on the environment sector. Dong-A Socio Holdings has announced the replacement of company cars with eco-friendly vehicles, delivered money to a campaign to restore natural circulation and the earth and conducted “plastic zero” drives.

A Dong-A Socio Holdings official said, “Dong-A Socio Holdings hopes we bring health and benevolent influence to all stake-holders.”

The group will make strenuous efforts to make society grow healthier by ramping up its expertise as a pharmaceutical company, the official added.