Partnerships
Whether to leverage external expertise, understand another perspective, or validate the sustainability efforts of SK and our portfolio companies, leveraging partnerships is a distinct aspect of our sustainability strategy.
The goal of each partnership is to create solutions that will benefit our companies, customers and communities and ultimately support stronger overall performance.
SK has initiated collaborations with our portfolio companies and well-established experts to promote enhanced performance in priority areas including energy efficiency and decarbonization, waste minimization, material optimization and water stewardship.
Multiple SK Portfolio companies participate in best-in-class industry safety and stewardship programs suited to their operations. These programs support continuous safety and environmental performance improvement and require commitment from each company’s senior management.
One of the most significant milestones on SK’s sustainability journey was signing the United Nation’s Principles for Responsible Investment.
SK completed the 2021 PRI Assessment and was evaluated in the Investment and Stewardship Module and the Private Equity Module. In both categories, SK outperformed the median score. We are proud of this strong validation of SK’s effort and believe it provides even more momentum for further development of our sustainability strategy and initiatives.
Private Equity
Investment & Stewardship
Median Score
SK Score
Operation Clean Sweep
Operation Clean Sweep is an international program dedicated to fighting plastic resin loss and keeping plastic resin pellets out of the environment.
Portfolio Participant:
Techmer
Partnering Across SK
Just as important as our partnerships with third party experts and organizations are the collaborations across functions within SK to advance multiple goals.
SK’s procurement and sustainability teams have teamed up to achieve improve efficiency, reduce waste and develop new sources of value at companies across the portfolio.
Current Initiatives
Energy
Increasing energy efficiency of SK company operations can offer financial savings and help reduce each company’s greenhouse gas emissions. In 2022 SK launched a firm-wide energy audit initiative to identify opportunities to cut costs and energy consumption.
Recommendations have included utility rate and rebate optimization, LED lighting installation, HVAC improvements, combined heat and power systems integration, and power purchase agreements that will allow portfolio companies to access greater shares of low or no carbon energy.
Results from the first few audits have produced almost a million dollars in potential financial savings and energy savings equivalent to the energy needed to drive a gasoline powered vehicle over five and half million miles.
Waste and Byproducts
Reducing the amount of material that SK companies send to landfills or that are destined for hazardous waste treatment is a firm-wide sustainability goal.
Working with waste and byproduct optimization experts, SK is pursuing ways to transform waste and byproducts from portfolio companies into valuable materials that can be repurposed and sold. These efforts can extend the life of the original materials, divert materials from landfills and waste treatment facilities, reduce waste management costs and create new sources of revenue.
Solvents have been an initial focus of these waste reduction efforts. We have identified multiple instances where solvents that have been utilized by one portfolio company can be reused by another SK company or sold to another responsible end user. The benefits of this initiative extend beyond waste reduction and revenue generation. Data shows that reclaiming solvents, rather than treating them as waste, reduces their life-cycle carbon footprint by almost 50 percent.