Woori Bank Claims Commercial-Bank First with Renewable PPA, Eyes 2044 Net Zero

South Korea’s Woori Bank published its 2025 ESG Report on 23 June, laying out what the institution frames as a sweeping “green transformation” under a strategy it calls “NEXT ESG, NEXT 50.” The framework groups actions across four strategic directions — net-zero transition, social equity commitment, expert ESG leadership, and disclosure transparency — into 12 priority initiatives and 50 discrete action targets, according to GreenPost Korea. The bank also aligned its major disclosure items with Korean Sustainability Standards Board (KSSB) standards ahead of any mandatory requirement and embedded an AI-based validation layer to screen reporting data for errors; separately, an in-house AI model classified 1,687 media articles across 24 proprietary ESG categories to support reputation-risk monitoring.

The most prominent operational step disclosed is a direct power-purchase agreement (PPA) with Korea Water Resources Corporation for a 1.5 MW small-hydropower facility — a move Woori Bank describes as a first among Korean commercial banks. Combined with other efficiency efforts, the bank’s Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse-gas emissions for 2025 totalled 66,947 tCO₂eq under Korea’s GHG Target Management System standard, a year-on-year reduction of 4,686 tCO₂eq. On an SBTi market basis the comparable figure has fallen from 51,303 tCO₂eq at the 2022 base year to 42,814 tCO₂eq. The bank is targeting an annual operational reduction rate of 5.25%, with a goal of cutting emissions 42% against the base year by 2030 (to 29,756 tCO₂eq) and reaching internal net zero by 2044.

Financed emissions present a sharper challenge: Woori Bank’s Scope 3 portfolio-level figure (SBTi basis, government exposures excluded) climbed to 49 million tCO₂eq in 2025 from the 2022 base of 44.78 million tCO₂eq — moving in the wrong direction relative to its stated 2030 target of 32.7 million tCO₂eq (a 27% reduction). On the green-finance side, the bank approved KRW 177.8 billion in K-Taxonomy-classified green loans and issued KRW 150 billion in green bonds during 2025, bringing full-year ESG finance support to KRW 10.59 trillion against a cumulative KRW 100 trillion target by 2030. Woori Bank also says it built the banking sector’s first AI-powered K-Taxonomy lending-assessment system. CEO Jung Jin-wanstated in the report that climate risk is “no longer a distant future story” and pledged expanded green-finance support toward national carbon-neutrality goals.