• For year 2021, SKT has created social value worth KRW 2.341 trillion, up 20.3% compared to the previous year and breaking the KRW 2 trillion mark for the first time.
• Products and services built with SKT’s advanced ICT – e.g., NUGU COVID-19/ Vaccine Care Call, Voice Phishing Prevention System – heavily contributed to strengthening the social safety net.
SK Telecom (NYSE: SKM, hereinafter referred to as “SKT”) today announced that it generated a total of KRW 2.341 trillion worth of social value (SV) last year, representing a 20.3% (KRW 395 billion) increase compared to 2020. The company’s total SV output expanded for four straight years and exceeded KRW 2 trillion for the first time since the company began SV measurements in 2018.
For the year 2021, SKT’s SV output in ‘Indirect Economic Contributions’ increased by 16.6% (or KRW 275.1 billion) year-on-year (YoY) to KRW 1.933 trillion; SV in ‘Environmental Performance’ edged down by 2.8% (or KRW 3 billion) to post KRW 108.2 billion worth of losses; and SV in ‘Social Performance’ expanded by 31.3% (or KRW 122.8 billion) to KRW 515.6 billion.
* Indirect Economic Contributions: Employment, dividend, and tax payment
Environmental Performance: Environmental process, and product/service
Social Performance: Product/service, labor, win-win growth, and social contribution
※ Attachment. Social Value Output (2019~2021)
SKT’s SV output in ‘Indirect Economic Contributions’ grew sharply reflecting expanded employment and increased tax payment on the back of strong business performance. Its SV in ‘Social Performance,’ which includes product/service, labor, win-win growth and social contribution, also achieved strong growth thanks to increased number of products/service users.
Despite increased greenhouse gas emissions caused by the expanded deployment of 5G infrastructure, SV output in ‘Environmental Performance’ managed to minimize negative effects by maintaining a similar level of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as the previous year through measures to enhance energy efficiency such as the adoption of Single RAN.
Contributes to creating a safer society with AI/ICT-based products/services
With the continued COVID-19 situation, SKT’s SV output growth was driven by strong growth of AI/ICT-based products and services that strengthen the social safety net, including ‘AI Care’, ‘NUGU COVID-19/ Vaccine Care Call’, ‘Voice Phishing Prevention System’, and ‘T Map Driving Habit’ and ‘V2X Real-time Traffic Situation Alert’ .
‘Voice Phishing Prevention System’ helped prevent crimes by adding a feature that blocks calls to voice phishing numbers; and ‘T Map Driving Habit’ induced more drivers to drive safely by attracting 30% more subscribers than that of 2020.
As SKT expanded the availability of ‘V2X Real-time Traffic Situation Alert’ service from Android to iOS users, the service has become available to all T Map users.
Being provided to 12,000 elderly living alone, ‘AI Care’ more than quadrupled its users and saved over 200 lives through its ‘Emergency SOS’ feature. ‘NUGU COVID-19/ Vaccine Care Call’ made calls for a total of 84,729 hours in 2021, providing information and monitoring that led to removing the work burden of related organizations including public health centers by 85%.
The growth of these products and services is meaningful in that SKT’s ICT contributed to strengthen the social safety net.
Aims to reach Net Zero by 2050 through environmentally-friendly management
SKT is actively carrying out environmentally-friendly management to reduce GHG emissions and save resources.
It has been making constant efforts to cut GHG emissions through integrated operation of network equipment (via Single RAN), development/deployment of high-efficiency network equipment, and intelligent control of office heating and cooling systems. As a result, in March 2021, SKT became the first telecommunications company in Korea to receive carbon credits for reducing GHG emissions with Single RAN.
Moreover, it is leading the efforts to increase energy efficiency by becoming the first Korean company to join RE100 and expanding the use of new and renewable energy, while running its infrastructure equipment on low power and increasing the number of solar photovoltaic base stations.
Through these efforts, SKT plans to reduce total GHG emissions by 47.7% compared to 2020 by getting over 60 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030, and aims to achieve RE100 and Net Zero goals within 2050.
Meanwhile, SKT is operating ‘Habit Eco Alliance’ to promote the culture of multi-use and re-use. It is building a platform where use, collection and re-use of multi-use cups create a virtuous cycle. SKT is carrying out ‘Eco Jeju Project’ in Jeju Island to spread the use of multi-use cups at Starbucks stores, eco-friendly cafes and multi-use facilities, and expand the virtuous cycle of multi-use cups to Seoul, Incheon and the Seoul metropolitan area.
Announces ESG 2.0 to achieve sustainable growth
Further strengthening its board-centered management, SKT restructured its governance system into five committees, namely Future Strategy Committee, HR & Reward Committee, Independent Director Recommendation Committee, ESG Committee, and Audit Committee.
At the general shareholders’ meeting held in March this year, SKT CEO Ryu Young-sang emphasized that ESG management is the key factor that determines the value of a company and that SKT will strive to become a company admired by customers through ‘ESG 2.0’ activities that are closely linked to its core businesses.
Through ‘ESG 2.0’ management, SKT will drive environmentally-friendly growth and make a greater social impact through green network strategy, create a safer society with ICT, and carry out ESG activities by leveraging its AI services and technologies.
“We have been creating differentiated value in each ESG area by fully leveraging our ICT and infrastructure, and will continue to work together with our stakeholders to contribute to building a sustainable society.” said Park Yong-joo, Vice President and Head of ESG Office at SKT.
