On the fifth anniversary of the declaration of POSCO Group’s “Corporate Citizenship” management philosophy, “2023 POSCO Corporate Citizenship Day” event was held at the Art Hall of POSCO Center in Seoul on July 24 to share its achievements of the past five years. The event was attended by more than 100 people, including Jeong-woo Choi, POSCO Group Chairman, Hag-dong Kim, POSCO Group Vice Chairman, Stanford University Professor William P. Barnett, group employees, and academic experts, while POSCO Group employees also watched the event on in-house IPTV and YouTube.
Five Years of Corporate Citizenship, the Journey of POSCO Group
The keynote lecture, “Sustainability Revolution,” was given by Stanford University Professor William Barnett, a master of corporate evolution theory who is in charge of researching “A Deep Analysis of POSCO Group’s Corporate Citizenship Promotion Process” at Stanford. The lecture received a strong response from the attendees.
“Under the leadership of Chairman Jeong-woo Choi, POSCO Group has successfully transitioned into eco-friendly future business,” Barnett said. He added, “POSCO’s corporate citizenship management philosophy will be able to create significant social value ahead of the grand transformation to sustainability.”
In the following special forum, “Change Our Mind With Corporate Citizenship,” which was divided into three sections, Business, Society, and People, participants shared their thoughts on the achievements of the past five years and made suggestions for future development.
Taejae University President Jae-ho Yeom, who chaired the forum, said, “Over the past five years of corporate citizenship management, POSCO Group has presented a sustainable corporate model by increasing group value with the successful business transformation from steel-centric to eco-friendly future materials such as secondary battery materials.”
Professor Su-geun Gwak reflected on the last five years, saying, “POSCO Group’s corporate citizenship is a fundamental and philosophical management ideology that goes beyond ESG.” He continued, “The fact that the local community and stakeholders all came together to provide significant assistance in restoration efforts following last year’s flood caused by a typhoon indicates that POSCO Group has successfully fulfilled its role as a corporate citizen.”
Corporate Citizenship Activities Promotion Booth Features
During a short break after the first part of the event, employees visited promotion booths that displayed POSCO Group’s corporate citizenship activities. POSCO, POSCO INTERNATIONAL, POSCO E&C, POSCO FUTURE M, and POSCO DX set up promotional booths where employees shared their accomplishments and encouraged each other.
The second part of the event kicked off with a special performance. Vocalist Nam-hyeon Lee, an artist with disability who participated in When Meeting Becomes Art Season 3 held by POSCO’s 1% Sharing Foundation, took the stage and sang “The Song of Friendship.” Following this, he collaborated with the Maytree of Acapella to passionately sing “Amazing Grace.”
Corporate Citizenship Best Practice Presentation: A GEM Connecting Story
The second part of the event, which began with humorous remarks by broadcaster Gyeong-seok, Seo featured the presentation contest “A GEM Connecting Story,” where group employees shared their best practices of corporate citizenship in their daily work over the past five years, and awards were presented for the best cases. Out of 54 cases, six that made it to the final round were presented in sequence.
*A GEM Connecting Story: This means connecting the corporate citizenship management philosophy (GEM for stakeholders) and employees’ real-world practice stories. GEM is an acronym for “Go the Extra Mile.”
A GEM Connecting Story ① POSCO DX’s “Smart Integrated Safety Solution”
To reduce the occurrence of safety accidents at industrial sites, POSCO DX and small and medium-sized technology companies have collaborated to develop a safety solution that integrates 22 of the latest technologies and has already been implemented at 130 industrial sites, significantly contributing to on-site safety communication and accident prevention.
A GEM Connecting Story ② POSCO CHINA’s “Smart Low Carbon Lifestyle App”
POSCO CHINA has been recognized for developing the application “Smart Low Carbon Lifestyle” that can be used by 1.4 billion Chinese people to achieve low carbon in their daily lives, such as walking 10,000 steps and not using disposable products, which not only reduces carbon emissions but also improves employee health and the corporate image.
A GEM Connecting Story ③ eNtoB’s “Building a Value Chain for Recycling Waste Fishing Nets”
To improve the marine environment, eNtoB has built a waste fishing net recycling process that involves purchasing these waste nets to produce and commercialize recyclable resources. With the collection of waste fishing nets, eNtoB is addressing local community problems, discovering and fostering social ventures, and realizing carbon reduction and a circular economy.
A GEM Connecting Story ④ POSCO’s Hot Rolled Wire Marketing Office, “Developing a Multipurpose Firefighting Support Tool”
As the risk of wildfires increases due to climate change, POSCO’s Hot Rolled Wire Marketing Office took the lead in developing and distributing a multipurpose firefighting support tool made from POSCO’s WTP steel that enables firefighters to more effectively control residual fires.
A GEM Connecting Story ⑤ POSCO E&C, “Developing a Ready-mixed Concrete Transportation Information System”
POSCO E&C has taken the lead in preventing building collapses caused by defective ready-mixed concrete by being the first in Korea to build a real-time quality control platform. It has been recognized for addressing construction safety anxiety and spearheading the establishment of a social safety net through technology sharing.
A GEM Connecting Story ⑥ POSCO MEXICO, “Developing an Industrial Wastewater Recycling Technology”
POSCO MEXICO developed a technology to recycle wastewater and shared its know-how with the government and corporations to build a shared growth ecosystem to solve water shortages, and reduced costs by recycling 350,000 liters of wastewater a year.
Evaluation of the case presentation was conducted by live online voting by 150 pre-selected voters and 100 on-site employees.
In a tightly contested contest, the grand prize went to POSCO MEXICO, which developed the technology to recycle industrial wastewater. The first prize was awarded to the POSCO Hot-rolled Wire Marketing Office and eNtoB, while the second prize went to POSCO E&C, POSCO DX, and POSCO CHINA. The grand prize team won 6 million won, the first prize team won 5 million won, and the second prize team won 4 million won.
In his remarks at the commemorative event, Jeong-woo Choi, POSCO Group Chairman said, “If I had to describe corporate citizenship in two words, I would say ‘value plus.’” He added, “POSCO Group is creating real value by adding environmental and social value to economic value, and we will continue to add more value based on the know-how of the past five years.”