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Based upon its management principle ‘Contribute to Society,’ S-OIL pursues social contribution activities in line with its own corporate strategies.
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In addition, it has established a vision for its social contribution activities known as ‘Sunshine Sharing,’ and strives to spread the value of sharing in our society through S-OIL’s unique programs that are rooted in three principles of ‘Impact,’ ‘Timing,’ and ‘Beneficiary’.
Sustainable growth / One of top-tier good corporate citizens In Korean society
- Activities by category
- Hero
- - Hero fireflighters
- - Hero citizens
- - Hero maritime policeman
- Needy People
- - Children
- - Disabled persons
- - Senior citizens
- Environment
- - Endangered species saving
- Local Communit
- - Ulsan(Refinery) Mapo(Head Office) Terminals
- Sunshine sharing
- Foundation, etc
- S-OIL Science Prodigy and Culture Foundation
- S-OIL Ulsan Welfare-Foundation
- S-OIL Table Tennis Team
S-OIL Public Service Corps Volunteer Activities Wage tail-cut contribution 1person-1donation account
Impact Timing Beneficiary Three Guiding Principles
Sunshine Sharing Activities
S-OIL carries out ‘Sunshine Sharing’ campaign to raise consumers’ awareness of our social contribution activities. ‘Sunshine Sharing’, an overarching CSR brand of S-OIL, represents our aspiration to become warm sunshine that lights up every corner of our society. The campaign includes our other social contribution initiatives such as For Heroes, For the Environment, For Communities, and For the Marginalized, where employees are encouraged to return what they received from local communities.
For Hero
‘Hero Support Programs’ applaud and encourage heroes in our society such as the heroic citizens and firefighters who commit themselves to saving lives and property by risking their own in adverse working conditions. S-OIL instituted ‘Firefighter Support Program’ in 2006 and ‘Heroic Citizens Support Program’ in 2008 respectively, discovering unsung heroes making our society a better place. In 2013, it expanded programs for respected maritime police officers who work to protect the maritime environment, crackdown maritime crime, and come to rescue in accidents.
For Environment
S-OIL’s endangered natural monument protection campaigns are aimed at preserving natural heritage for future generations. To this end, the company signed an agreement with the Cultural Heritage Administration in May 2008 to protect otters (Natural Monument No. 330), cranes (Natural Monument No. 202) and hemibarbus mylodon (Natural Monument No. 259). S-OIL’s environment protection programs also cover other activities including: supporting protection and research activities of the relevant organizations; running children’s natural monument classes and ecology camps; launching a university students’ natural monument protection corps; and sponsoring natural habitat protection activities by employees.
S-OIL also undertakes community-based environment protection activities focused on preserving the marine environment and resources. In order to protect the evergreen forest of Mokdo (Natural Monument No. 65) near Onsan Refinery, volunteers from the refinery have engaged in seacoast cleanup activities, such as collecting waste wood and nourishing trees, while those active in the in-house diving club have removed waste from the seabed. In acknowledgement of such sincere activities, S-OIL received a commendation from the Korea Cultural Heritage Administration in September 2012.
Environmentally Friendly Purchases
In 2005, S-OIL signed a “green” purchasing agreement with the Ministry of Environment, to actively promote eco-friendly production and consumption. It was re-signed in 2009 when the agreement expired, for the purpose of building a low carbon, eco-friendly society through the efficient use of energy and natural resources. Under the agreement, eco-friendly products are divided into seven types–environmental mark-certified products; excellent recycling products; hazardous substances reductions products; waste reduction products, etc. – so that those responsible are encouraged to purchase eco-friendly products.
For Local Community
S-OIL Ulsan Welfare Foundation was founded in 2007 and has since operated with the objective to effectively carry out a variety of CSR activities targeting community citizens, the underprivileged, and social welfare facilities in Ulsan. S-OIL is the first business operating in Ulsan to launch a welfare foundation, and the beginning of its social welfare activities can be traced back to 2001, even before the establishment of the Foundation, when it purchased rice from nearby farming families for donation to marginalized populations. It still strives to locate those in need and find appropriate measures to assist them through regular communication with local residents. In addition, the company supports welfare facilities for the disabled, war veterans and patriots, and social welfare facilities with the aim of providing help to those in need, and donates heating oil to 500 low-income families during winters. S-OIL also makes a contribution to low-income families in Mapo District through the Mapo District Office and Gong-deok Community Center, where the company’s Head Office is located, and organizes volunteer programs with welfare facilities for those in need within the district.
In 2014, the company divided the existing activities for local communities into; one for communities and the other for the marginalized. S-OIL will commit to caring people in need not just in Ulsan, home to our operations, and Mapo District but other communities across the nation.
For Needy People
Recognizing our service for local communities starts with caring the needy people, S-OIL has in place a variety of supporting programs for the marginalized in our society. A case in point, we have been sponsoring social contribution programs since 2006 such as ‘Sunshine Sharing Jeju Camp for Children with Rare Disease’, and ‘International Marathon Race for the Disabled’. We extend our helping hand to the marginalized through wide-ranging unique programs, for example, support for fire victims of low-income families, donation of custom-made stationery for the disabled students, support for youth orchestra with developmental disorder, and support for marriage migration women suffering domestic violence.
S-OIL Public Service Corps
S-OIL employees launched the S-OIL Public Service Corps in 2007. Consisting of two bureaus and six regional groups, this corps offers voluntary assistance to the marginalized of society. For the systemic management of employee volunteers, this organization is registered with is the Social Welfare Volunteer Activities Certification Center of the Korean National Council on Social Welfare which was designated by the Ministry of Health & Welfare. This enables us to manage our employees’ volunteer activities through the Social Welfare Volunteer Activities Certification Administration (www.vms.or.kr) which is responsible for comprehensive management of nation-wide volunteer activities. Every year, the Corps delivers Ttokguk (Korean rice soup) to the homeless in the run-up to New Year’s Day and Songpyeon (rice cakes) to elderly citizens living alone before Korean Thanksgiving. Additionally, each of the six regional volunteer groups engages in diverse charity work, such as kimchi sharing, delivery of briquettes, lunch boxes, and heating package to low-income families, hosting birthday parties for marginalized elderly citizens, and organizing Parents’ Day party.
As of the end of 2015, 2,226 employees, or 80 percent of the company’s workforce, engaged in 150 volunteer programs at six regional volunteer groups across the nation. Additionally, 58 percent of our employees (1, 642 employees) voluntarily donate a little less than KRW 10,000 from their monthly paychecks to fund approximately KRW 100 million annually for operation bills of children suffering biliary atresia. Furthermore, 1, 428people, or 52percent of our employees, have their own special bank account to donate as much as they can to charities every month.
Performance of Social Contribution Activities in 2015 Unit: KRW in millions
Performance of Social Contribution Activities in 2015 : Category, Donation Table.
Category |
Donation |
For Hero |
1,130 |
For Environment |
290 |
For Local Community |
1,285 |
For Needy People |
1,255 |
Etc |
2,317 |
Other donations were KRW 1,000 million to the Company’s table tennis team, KRW 1,500 million to the S-OIL Science Prodigy and Culture Foundation, and KRW 160 million to the medalists at Sochi Olympics.
Sunshine Sharing Campaign Unit: persons
Sunshine Sharing Campaign : Category, Wage ttail-cut contribution, 1 Person 1 Donation Account Table.
Category |
|
Wage ttail-cut contribution |
1 Person 1 Donation Account |
No. of participants |
2013 |
1,593 |
1,483 |
2014 |
1,642 |
1,428 |
2015 |
1,669 |
1,391 |
Activities of the Public Service Corps
S-OIL, in Pursuit of Sustainable Growth of Society
A business grows when local communities grow together. Keenly aware of this, S-OIL carries out diverse activities to share our performance with the society
Promotion of Cultural Infrastructure for Local Communities
S-OIL supports cultural events in Mapo-gu and Ulsan where the Company's business sites are located in order to offer better cultural living environment to local people and to motivate local artists. At the Head Office in Mapo, we have been hosting 62 free culture and art events since 2011, in which about 20,300 local people have participated for the past 5 years.
In Ulsan, where the Company’s Refinery is in operation, S-OIL established one of Korea’s most prestigious literary awards, the ‘Oh Yeong-su Literary Prize,’ in 1993 in honor of the talented short story writer from the region. Additionally, S-OIL has held the ‘Beautiful Eye Art Festival’ since 1996, an art event that mainly invites amateur artists. The Company has also been making efforts to promote local culture, as illustrated in its sponsorship of various regional, cultural, and artistic events such as the Spring Literary Contest by the local newspaper Gyeongsang Ilbo, the Cheoyong Cultural Festival, the Ulsan Whale Festival, the Byeongyeong Seonang Chigi, and the Onggi Expo Ulsan Korea.
Cultural Arts & Sharing Campaign to Enrich the Quality of Culture and Art
S-OIL carried out a survey targeting local residents who participated in the Cultural Arts & Sharing Campaign at the Head Office in December 2014. The survey showed that 87% of the respondents were content with the program. It also confirmed that people were attending about two more cultural events on an annual average basis after the program.
This attests to the fact that S-OIL is making a contribution to the growth of culture while creating social values by instilling interest in people’s minds for cultural events and, in turn, engaging them in cultural activities.
Donation to Taewharu Restoration Project
Ulsan, where S-OIL’s Refinery is located, has rapidly grown into an industrial city but it lacks sufficient public spaces to enjoy cultural events and for relaxation. Taking heed of this complaint, the Company donated KRW 10 billion for the Taewharu Restoration Project in 2012, a project undertaken to boost the pride of Ulsan citizens and give them access to a comfortable public rest area. The restoration project of the historical pavilion was completed in 2014 after 19 months. Taewharu, set up during the Shilla Dynasty, was once the landmark of Ulsan that stood out the most among the ‘three pavilions in Yeongnam’ for its beauty of construction, but was lost during the Japanese Invasion of Korea in 1592. Against this historical backdrop, the restored Taewharu will not only shed new light on the history and tradition of Ulsan, but also become a landmark as a public space where all the citizens come to enjoy culture and art and to relax.
According to a survey involving Ulsan citizens, law makers, and government officials, the Taewharu Restoration Project was selected as the most important undertaking of Ulsan city in 2014. Additionally, the project won the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister’s prize at the ‘Korean Land & City Competition 2014’ in recognition of its gracious colors, design, and shape that struck a perfect balance with the surrounding landscape. The Ulsan city government, on their part, opened the ‘Taewharu Academy of Culture and Art’ to invite its citizens to lectures given by renowned local artists in six categories such as calligraphy and fairy tales.
Education Support for Local Communities
In cooperation with the Ministry of Education, it runs the ‘Children’s Science Magic School’, an innovative departure from traditional teaching methods where our employees draw on magic technics to teach children about scientific principles and to foster their creativity. In addition, the company supports athletics clubs, book purchases and after-school programs at seven local elementary and middle schools, and undertakes a wide range of social contribution initiatives such as scholarship foundations to serve the Onsan area, study facilities for youth, and the Winter Snail School for Children with Disabilities.
Support for Social Enterprises
In December 2011, Onsan Refinery joined the ‘1 Company 1 Social Enterprise’ campaign run by the social enterprise ‘Nanuri Corporation’, installing used clothing donation boxes at the company housing. The company supports social enterprises on a lasting basis as it raises employees’ awareness of social activities. S-OIL is also a steering committee member of the ‘Ulsan Network for Social Enterprise Promotion’ organized by Ulsan Metropolitan City in April 2012.
Support Sustainable Growth through Policy Participation
S-OIL, the pioneer which turned Korea’s petrochemical industry once dependent upon domestic demand into a high value-added exporting industry, is actively taking part in public policy making and implementation programs to ensure a sustainable, balanced growth with society.
S-OIL, as a member of the Korea Petroleum Association, regularly communicates with the government and delivers its position and opinions on government policies, thus contributing to the creation and effective implementation of relevant framework policies and tax system revision and securing the competitiveness of oil price.
Notably, an initiative to create a KRW 100 billion Joint CSR Fund was agreed upon among refiners in 2008 to share the weight of the national burden imposed by the onset of high-oil prices. S-OIL has raised and executed the fund on four occasions to date. S-OIL contributes to establishing domestic market order of oil distribution as it joined the Korea Oil Association to eradicate illegal sales of petrochemical products, thereby encouraging safe and sound consumption of oil products.
Having built cooperative ties with oil producing countries through initiatives like Korea-Oil Producing Country International Cooperation and Korea-Arab Society, S-OIL secures stability in oil supply for the nation’s industrial competitiveness. Also as a Korean member of WPC, we promote economic development and advance quality of life by boosting exchanges with other member countries.
Community-based Social Contribution Activity – Nanum Stations
Under the management philosophy to share the profit with local communities, S-OIL has embedded social contribution activities into its management strategy. For example, Nanum Stations, a charity network of affiliated gas stations across the nation, was formed in 2011. In 2014, approximately 300 S-OIL service stations voluntarily took part in the social contribution activities in connection with welfare centers across the country. Suggestions and recommendations raised during the activities were reflected in follow-up programs. S-OIL launched the "Hope to You(油) Campaign" in 2015 in order to donate heating oil to those with financial difficulties. An extended version from the "Service Station Sharing N Campaign" which provided heating oil subsidies to welfare facilities through the existing service station network, the "Hope to You(油) Campaign" donates kerosene worth KRW 1 million per households (KRW 2 million for a total of 200 households) to children raised by grandparents and senior citizens living alone.
Committing to Eradicate Global Poverty
The United Nations Millennium Development Goals, set forth at the Millennium Summit of the United Nations in 2000, aims to cut global poverty in half by 2015 in order to secure sustainable development of the international community. As a responsible global corporate citizen with the hope of helping the UN achieve this goal, S-OIL is carrying out global projects to address global poverty.
In 2011, S-OIL Science Prodigy and Culture Foundation launched the EncoreKorea Initiative (EKI), the first knowledge donation organization in Korea in which some 1,000 retired scientists participated. Through EKI, many retired scientists have been dispatched to developing countries to spread Korea’s advanced scientific technology. Furthermore, EKI supports a global mentoring program where students from the developing world attend Korean universities to build networks with their counterparts in Korea, and runs an academy for gifted young scientists in Korea. These knowledge donation activities by EKI are recognized also for presenting an effective solution to the issue of senior citizen’s unemployment, a problem that Korea faces as it becomes an aging society.
Technical Support for Developing Countries to Eradicate Global Poverty
The EncoreKorea Initiative joined hands with the Development Alliance Korea as a founding member in 2012. As its first overseas program, EKI signed MOU with Adama Science and Technology University(ASTU) in Ethiopia and offered advisory services such as core technology transfer, workforce training, establishment of a long-term plan for a technology center and more, so that Ethiopia could secure independent technologies on cement. This advisory project won an award at the technology transfer competition hosted by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning of Korea in 2013 and, as a result, the Ethiopian Cement technology Center at ASTU was established in 2014. This feat paved the way for EKI to provide advice to the Ethiopian Ministry of Industry on national plan for cement industry promotion, national human resource development plan for industrial technology, and national strategy for chemical industry promotion.
On top of this, EKI is involved in various global technology transferring projects across the world; ICT in Peru, Industrial Technology in Kazakhstan, and Green Technology in Mongolia.
Global Students Mentoring Forum (GSMF) to Form a Network with Students from Developing Countries
In order to build ties with students from developing countries studying in Korea and seek opportunities for future international cooperation projects, S-OIL invites around 100 foreign students to regular mentoring forums six times a year and takes them on company tours. Students with good scores in the activities are given opportunities to participate in workshops in summer and winter. Foreign students wishing to learn Korea’s advanced ICT can benefit from internship programs which S-OIL arranges for them with local ICT companies.
Science Prodigy Academy (SPA) to Train Next-Generation Scientists
In an effort to contribute to achieving one of the key tasks sought by the current administration, S-OIL runs the ‘SPA’, a pilot program where around 100 gifted elementary and junior high school students are nurtured into next-generation scientists. The program differentiates itself from existing ones in that retired scientists offer advice on career paths for young participants until they enter college, and students, mentor professors and parents all come together in an organic relationship. What makes the program extraordinary is that it features practical debating sessions designed to cultivate creativity and instill good character, departing from strictly memorizing and pre-studying, instead highlighting communication between professors and students. The program aims to nurture young scientists who will lead the development of Korea into a science powerhouse.
Support for Shomoro Elementary School in Ethiopia
In 2015, S-OIL embarked on a new activity towards fighting poverty in Ethiopia, which is the least developed country in Africa, we selected Shomoro Elementary School in Enemorena Ener, an impoverished region with scanty educational infrastructure. S-OIL signed an agreement to join forces to end the vicious circle of illiteracy and poverty while laying the groundwork for children to grow and prosper.
In the first year, S-OIL built a school with four classrooms and provided teaching materials improving learning conditions for students. Furthermore, we donated livestock for the community to facilitate their economic independence, which will contribute to generating stable income for them and raising the resources to provide kids in need of meals.
S-OIL pledges to sustain a wide ranging support programs to help developing countries fight illiteracy and poverty and at the same time encourage our employees to be part of this global cause.
For Better Sunshine Sharing
In an effort to maximize the benefits of its Sunshine Sharing programs, S-OIL has its CSR activities evaluated by an outside professional institute on a regular basis. In addition, we strive to ensure that our program reaches every corner of this society by continuously indentifying the expectations of our stakeholders.
Reinforcing Social Contribution through Evaluation
S-OIL makes every effort to maximize impact of its social contribution activities by assessing and analyzing their impact on the Company and society. As part of this, S-OIL conducted a survey in 2014 to assess the impact of its flagship social contribution activities ‘For Hero Firefighters’, ‘For Endangered Species Saving’, and ‘Cultural Arts & Sharing Campaign.’ The assessment results formed the basis on which we developed a Social Impact Index, a tool to evaluate contribution activities. The assessment also found that beneficiaries of social contribution activities developed high interest and loyalty to S-OIL, confirming that the activities met the intended goal. S-OIL will continue to reinforce reliability of the Social Impact Index, utilizing it as a means to plan future social contribution activities.
Ever-evolving CSR Activities of S-OIL
S-OIL operates an internal process to assess its social contribution performance and receive feedback from external experts, further evolving its CSR activities. For this, Onsan Refinery holds volunteer program competition early every year for welfare centers from the region. For the winning programs, S-OIL supports workforce and required budget in full in connection with the 18 volunteer corps in the plant. Additionally, a year-end workshop is held each year at the Onsan Refinery for coordinators from each volunteer corps, welfare facility staffs and staffs in charge of the company’s social contribution activities to collect grievances or suggestions from all parties concerned including volunteers, beneficiaries and staffs in charge. The company subsequently reflects the feedback in its social contribution plan for the following year. A satisfaction survey is conducted for each recipient welfare center on their satisfaction levels with S-OIL’s programs to identify opportunities for improvement.
The company holds a social contribution workshop at the beginning of each year to recognize and award outstanding volunteer programs, while inviting external experts for special lectures and best practice presentations, in a bid to nurture in-house social contribution experts.