• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.58-67
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• 2014

The outdoor mass cultivation is not possible for microalgae in Korea all year round, due to cold winter season. It is not easy to maintain proper level of productivity of microalgae even in winter. To prevent a drastic decrease of temperature in a greenhouse, two layers were covered additionally, inside the original plastic layer of the greenhouse. The middle layer was made up of plastic and the inner layer, of non-woven fabric. Acrylic transparent bioreactors were constructed to get more sunlight, not only from the upper side but also from the lateral and bottom directions. In winter at freezing temperatures, six different culture conditions were compared in the triply covered, insulated greenhouse. Wastewater after anaerobic digestion was used for the cultivation of microalgae to minimize the production cost. Water temperature in the bioreactors remained above $10^{\circ}C$ on average, even without any external heating system, proving that the triple-layered greenhouse is effective in keeping heat. Algal biomass reached to 0.37g $L^{-1}$ with the highest temperature, in the experimental group of light-reflection board at the bottom, with nitrogen and phosphorus removal rate of 92% and 99%, respectively. When fatty acid composition was analyzed using gas-chromatography, linoleate (C18 : 3n3) occupied the highest proportion up to 61%, in the all experiment groups. Chemical oxygen demand (COD), however, did not decrease during the cultivation, but rather increased. Although the algal biomass productivity was not comparable to warm seasons, it was possible to maintain water temperature for algae cultivation even in the coldest season, at the minimum cost.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.287-316
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• 2023

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.