The pharmaceutical and biotech industry is continuing to publish Sustainability Reports.
That is because, given the nature of the industry, it handles medicines that are directly tied to human life. It is important to be recognized for values such as ensuring product safety, expanding access to medicines for underserved groups, and upholding ethical standards in clinical trials. In fact, as ethical risks are high, ESG indicators are increasingly being considered essential in global investment decisions.
Kwangdong Pharmaceutical has published a Sustainability Report for the first time since its founding, detailing its progress in promoting Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) management and its key achievements.
The report includes five core tasks selected through a Double Materiality assessment and the company’s main achievements. The five priorities are climate change response, stronger ethical management, responsible board operations, human rights protection and management, and improved circularity of products and packaging materials. Based on these priorities, Kwangdong Pharmaceutical is steadily expanding ESG activities such as carbon neutrality efforts, ESG management across the supply chain, human rights management, and stronger ethics and compliance practices.
To enhance the report’s credibility and international alignment, it reflects global sustainability disclosure standards and guidelines, including GRI (Global Reporting Initiative), SASB (Sustainability Accounting Standards Board), TCFD (Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures), and the UN SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals). In June, the company also launched an ESG Committee under its board. The committee is made up of three independent directors and reviews ESG strategy, major policies, implementation plans, and performance.
Huons Group also published its 2026 Sustainability Report and disclosed its ESG management activities and key achievements over the past year.
The report is an integrated publication covering the holding company, Huons Global, as well as listed subsidiaries within the group, including Huons, Humedix, and HuM&C. To improve objectivity, the company applied a Double Materiality assessment that considers both social and environmental impacts and financial impacts. Through this process, it identified six key issues: strengthening safety and health and preventing serious accidents, ESG management across the supply chain and responsible sourcing, reducing environmental pollution and managing waste, responding to climate change and cutting energy use, strengthening information security and personal data protection, and advancing human rights management and diversity. The report also outlines response strategies and implementation results for these priorities.
The report was prepared in line with GRI Standards 2021, the international reporting standard for sustainability management. It also meets the four principles of AA1000APS, the sustainability reporting assurance standard. In addition, the company secured credibility and transparency in its disclosed data by completing third-party verification from the British Standards Institution (BSI).
Earlier, Dong-A ST also published its Sustainability Report, ON, which covers its sustainability strategy, major activities, and achievements in 2025. ON means “all” and “100” in pure Korean, while its Chinese character form conveys warmth and its English meaning is to continue.
Now in its second edition since last year, the report is organized into sections on sustainability strategy, materiality assessment, a Special Section, sustainability performance, and an ESG Factbook. In the Double Materiality assessment, the company comprehensively analyzed the social and environmental impacts of its business activities as well as their financial effects. This led to six major issues: pharmaceutical quality and safety management, expanded R&D investment and new drug development, talent recruitment and management, corporate ethics and compliance, building a positive organizational culture, and ESG management for partner companies. In particular, the company gathered stakeholder feedback through a survey and raised the importance of corporate ethics and compliance and building a positive organizational culture, reflecting those points in the report. It was also prepared in line with GRI Standards 2021 and incorporates the standards of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), indicators from the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), and the 10 principles of the UN Global Compact to improve reliability.
This year’s report also expanded its scope to include the sustainability strategies and achievements of Dong-A Chammed, Aptis, and Ecowin, subsidiaries of Dong-A ST.
An industry official said, "In the pharmaceutical and biotech industry, sustainability reports have become a 'must-have' condition for corporate survival and global expansion."
Kim So-hyeong compact@sportschosun.com
