산업별 지속가능경영 전략 고찰: ESG 보고서와 뉴스 기사를 중심으로

A Study on Industry-specific Sustainability Strategy: Analyzing ESG Reports and News Articles

최근 전 세계적으로 기업의 환경(Environmental)·사회(Social)·지배구조(Governance)의 비재무적 요소를 고려한 지속가능경영이 필수적으로 요구되면서, 각 기업들은 이에 대응할 수 있는 전략적 방향 수립이 중요해지고 있다. 특히 기업이 속한 산업별로 상이한 ESG 이슈에 대한 이해를 바탕으로 산업과 개별 기업의 특성을 반영한 전략을 개발하고 추진할 수 있어야 할 것이다. 이에 본 연구에서는 금융, 제조, IT 분야별로 나누어 주요 국내 기업들의 ESG 보고서와 관련 뉴스 기사를 이용하여 산업별 ESG 동향과 활동을 비교 분석하였다. 키워드 빈도분석과 토픽 모델링을 활용한 분석 결과, 국내 ESG 선도 기업들의 지속가능경영 활동에서의 산업별 차이를 도출 할 수 있다. 금융 분야에서는 '고객 중심 경영'과 '기후 변화 대응', 제조 분야에서는 '지속가능한 공급망 관리'와 '탄소중립', IT 분야에서는 '기술혁신'과 '디지털 책임'이 강조되었다. ESG 요소별 우선 순위가 높은 활동의 예를 들면, 환경 측면에서는 '에너지 절감과 친환경 활동', 사회 측면에서는 '사회공헌과 상생', 지배구조 측면에서는 '이사회 독립성 강화와 리스크 관리' 등으로 나타났다. 더 나아가 산업별 각 ESG 요소의 핵심 이슈 뿐 아니라 ESG 보고서와 뉴스 기사의 내용 유사성 및 차별점도 확인하였다. 연구의 결과는 산업별 동향을 고려한 ESG 경영 전략 및 정책의 방향성을 제시하고 있으며 이는 산업별 ESG 평가체계 수립에도 도움이 될 것으로 기대한다.

As global energy crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic have emerged as social issues, there is a growing demand for companies to move away from profit-centric business models and embrace sustainable management that balances environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors. ESG activities of companies vary across industries, and industry-specific weights are applied in ESG evaluations. Therefore, it is important to develop strategic management approaches that reflect the characteristics of each industry and the importance of each ESG factor. Additionally, with the stance of strengthened focus on ESG disclosures, specific guidelines are needed to identify and report on sustainable management activities of domestic companies. To understand corporate sustainability strategies, analyzing ESG reports and news articles by industry can help identify strategic characteristics in specific industries. However, each company has its own unique strategies and report structures, making it difficult to grasp detailed trends or action items. In our study, we analyzed ESG reports (2019-2021) and news articles (2019-2022) of six companies in the 'Finance,' 'Manufacturing,' and 'IT' sectors to examine the sustainability strategies of leading domestic ESG companies. Text mining techniques such as keyword frequency analysis and topic modeling were applied to identify industry-specific, ESG element-specific management strategies and issues. The analysis revealed that in the 'Finance' sector, customer-centric management strategies and efforts to promote an inclusive culture within and outside the company were prominent. Strategies addressing climate change, such as carbon neutrality and expanding green finance, were also emphasized. In the 'Manufacturing' sector, the focus was on creating sustainable communities through occupational health and safety issues, sustainable supply chain management, low-carbon technology development, and eco-friendly investments to achieve carbon neutrality. In the 'IT' sector, there was a tendency to focus on technological innovation and digital responsibility to enhance social value through technology. Furthermore, the key issues identified in the ESG factors were as follows: under the 'Environmental' element, issues such as greenhouse gas and carbon emission management, industry-specific eco-friendly activities, and green partnerships were identified. Under the 'Social' element, key issues included social contribution activities through stakeholder engagement, supporting the growth and coexistence of members and partner companies, and enhancing customer value through stable service provision. Under the 'Governance' element, key issues were identified as strengthening board independence through the appointment of outside directors, risk management and communication for sustainable growth, and establishing transparent governance structures. The exploration of the relationship between ESG disclosures in reports and ESG issues in news articles revealed that the sustainability strategies disclosed in reports were aligned with the issues related to ESG disclosed in news articles. However, there was a tendency to strengthen ESG activities for prevention and improvement after negative media coverage that could have a negative impact on corporate image. Additionally, environmental issues were mentioned more frequently in news articles compared to ESG reports, with environmental-related keywords being emphasized in the 'Finance' sector in the reports. Thus, ESG reports and news articles shared some similarities in content due to the sharing of information sources. However, the impact of media coverage influenced the emphasis on specific sustainability strategies, and the extent of mentioning environmental issues varied across documents. Based on our study, the following contributions were derived. From a practical perspective, companies need to consider their characteristics and establish sustainability strategies that align with their capabilities and situations. From an academic perspective, unlike previous studies on ESG strategies, we present a subdivided methodology through analysis considering the industry-specific characteristics of companies.