As the importance of ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) management grows, there is an increasing demand for the disclosure of environmental product declarations related to energy sources like liquefied natural gas (LNG). The environmental impact from carbon emissions and the entire production-to-consumption process is directly linked to a company's ESG performance, prompting energy public enterprises to consider releasing environmental data at the product level.
According to industry sources on May 27, an environmental product declaration quantifies and publicly discloses the environmental impacts occurring throughout the entire process of a product, from raw material extraction to production, transportation, distribution, usage, and disposal. There is a growing demand for energy companies, which inevitably produce carbon emissions, to disclose such environmental product declarations.
In response, Korea Gas Corporation is pursuing certification for natural gas products, becoming the first in the country to do so. While the company has previously released environmental information at the corporate level through global evaluation agencies, it recognized the limitations in providing specific environmental data at the product level.
Korea Gas Corporation has initially targeted certification for LNG truck supply products, as the boundaries of the process are clearer compared to pipeline supply, making data collection easier. However, due to the complex process from natural gas import to supply, a large-scale collaborative project involving 10 internal departments and 33 domestic and international suppliers has been launched.
During this process, the company collected and standardized 16,752 data points across all stages, including raw material extraction, maritime transport, storage and distribution, and truck dispatch. As a result, it quantitatively assessed environmental impacts across seven categories, including carbon footprint, water footprint, and ozone layer impact. This effort has established a foundation for systematically managing environmental data across the entire supply chain, beyond just a simple certification process.
Particularly, a comprehensive assessment of the production and transportation processes of LNG is deemed essential. Industry experts view Korea Gas Corporation's objective data acquisition as a means to not only sell energy but also provide carbon information and environmental data simultaneously. Given the need to manage carbon emissions during the production process, the provision of environmental data by energy suppliers is likely to become a significant purchasing criterion.
Starting with this initiative, Korea Gas Corporation plans to gradually expand the scope of certification to include pipeline-supplied natural gas and hydrogen. This is because it can objectively demonstrate that LNG has lower carbon emissions compared to fossil fuels.
The collected data will be provided to 119 truck supply demand points. Additionally, the general public will be able to intuitively perceive the eco-friendliness of natural gas through the environmental product declaration certification mark attached to truck vehicles they encounter in their daily lives.
A representative from Korea Gas Corporation stated, "This certification initiative is the first step toward providing consumer-centered environmental information. Through transparent information disclosure and ongoing environmental improvement efforts, we aim to establish ourselves as a trusted eco-friendly energy company among the public."
* This article has been translated by AI.
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