제주지역 해양 생물다양성 보호를 위한 기업의 ESG 정보공시에 관한 연구

Abstract

Recently, there has been a lot of discussion about ESG disclosures related to biodiversity. ESG means that investors should consider long-term non-financial factors such as the environment, society, and governance when making investment decisions, and ESG management means that companies should consider these non-financial factors when making business decisions. Until now, ESG attention has been focused on climate change, and biodiversity has been neglected. This is because we humans have overlooked the importance of the capital that nature provides. At this rate, nature will become increasingly depleted and will soon reach a critical point, which will in turn pose a threat to our societies and economies. The importance of biodiversity is even more important in Jeju, which is geographically rich in marine life. Recently, there has been a growing interest in biodiversity around the world. In 2022, the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15) was held, where the GBF was adopted, and the TNFD, which was established in 2021 to develop standards for natural capital disclosure systems, published the final version of the TNFD Recommendation in September 2023. The TNFD is the nature-related version of the TCFD, and if the TCFD is the corporate disclosure framework for climate change, the TNFD is the nature-related financial disclosure framework for biodiversity. The development of the TNFD for biodiversity-related ESG disclosures is likely to follow a similar path to the TCFD for climate change disclosures: a framework like the TCFD is created, disclosure standards are established based on it, and eventually disclosure is mandated. Prior to mandatory disclosure, pressure from the private sector is the most important driver. When stakeholders demand biodiversity-related ESG compliance from companies and enforce compliance by threatening to divest or reduce consumption, companies have no choice but to comply with the demands of their shareholders and other investors. However, with regard to biodiversity, there is already an international consensus on the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), TNFD recommendations such as the TCFD recommendations have been published, and the ISSB has indicated that it will accept these TNFD recommendations, so the process of institutionalizing them into corporate management is expected to proceed rapidly. However, since nature and biodiversity are multifaceted and differentiated by region, it is expected that it will take more time to standardize disclosure standards than climate change. Therefore, companies in the Jeju Special Self-Governing Province should prepare for a situation where ESG disclosures related to biodiversity become normative and mandatory by managing natural capital. In addition, the central and local governments should prepare for a situation where ESG disclosures related to biodiversity become normative and mandatory by taking the initiative to gather scattered biodiversity information in one place, provide guidance on how to use it, and create new information if necessary.