ESG Viewpoint:
Korea Eximbank

# RepRisk interviews Woojeong Jeong, Senior Environmental & Social Officer at Korea Eximbank

# September 2022

Woojeong Jeong: My team and I, as a Senior Environmental and Social (E&S) officer, endeavor to prevent and mitigate potential adverse E&S impacts of the projects KEXIM finances by undertaking E&S due diligence and monitoring. We conduct field inspections and consultations with stakeholders, review E&S impact assessment reports and relevant information, and develop project-specific E&S management/action plans to promote compliance with internationally recognized E&S standards as recommended by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Common Approaches.

As the bank supports the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) framework and the South Korean government’s 2050 carbon neutrality plan, our team takes an active role in assessing possible methodologies and mechanisms the bank can adopt to collect, evaluate, monitor, and reduce GHG emissions from the bank’s assets with the goal to establish a management framework for the bank’s climate and ESG risks.

We also participate in multilateral discussions such as OECD Environmental Practitioners’ Meetings and address E&S issues by sharing our experience and knowledge with other government agencies and international organizations. We also work to ensure that the OECD Common Approaches stay up to date by joining global efforts to combat climate change and human rights violations.

WJ: RepRisk data has been integrated into our processes in two ways:

First, we use the data in our E&S due diligence process, assessing the historical E&S related risk incidents and relevant reputations of project parties. The outcome of the E&S due diligence serves as an important factor in the bank’s internal credit approval process and determines the environmental and social conditions attached to the bank’s financial support. Especially during the pandemic when we were not able to conduct field inspections as before, RepRisk ESG risk data enabled us to supplement our desktop review and assessment process.

Second, we circulate RepRisk’s ESG risk data on our applicants and clients to our financial departments for review. With the access to up-to-date information, our loan officers take into account relevant considerations in the loan approval and monitoring processes.