Starting in 2028, ESG (sustainability) disclosures will become mandatory for KOSPI-listed companies with consolidated total assets of 10 trillion won or more. The scope of application has expanded significantly from the government's original draft, and the requirement will take effect immediately as a "statutory disclosure" included in business reports under the Capital Markets Act, bypassing the exchange disclosure stage.
The Democratic Party and the Financial Services Commission (FSC) held a party-government consultation meeting at the National Assembly Monday and finalized the "ESG Sustainability Disclosure Institutionalization Plan" containing these measures. The party and government explained that they had fully revised the existing roadmap in consideration of growing information demand from global investors and the need to respond to climate and energy risks.
The biggest changes concern the disclosure targets and the method of implementation. The draft released in February had targeted KOSPI-listed companies with consolidated assets of 30 trillion won or more in 2028, requiring exchange disclosures first before expanding to those with 10 trillion won or more in 2029. However, the final plan will mandate statutory disclosures directly from 2028 for listed companies with consolidated assets of 10 trillion won or more. It will then expand to those with 5 trillion won or more in 2029, and after evaluating the implementation situation, the government plans to review expanding to listed companies with 2 trillion won or more in 2030.
FSC Chairman Lee Eok-won explained, "In the process of gathering opinions from domestic and international institutional investors, the National Assembly and civil society (after the initial roadmap announcement), there were repeated demands to expand the disclosure targets and to make an early transition to statutory disclosure, and the recently growing need for energy security and climate risk management was also a factor behind strengthening the system."
He added, "Through the revised roadmap, we have supplemented the system in a direction that encourages companies to actively implement disclosures," saying it is "a more aggressive level than Japan."
The party and government also prepared supplementary measures to reduce the burden on companies from the transition to statutory disclosure. In the early stage of the system's introduction, a liability exemption will be applied within a scope that does not undermine disclosure accountability, while deliberate false disclosures or greenwashing will be excluded from the exemption. The policy is to protect companies from non-intentional matters such as simple mistakes or errors so they can adapt to the system. In addition, third-party assurance will be made mandatory from 2030, two years after disclosure becomes mandatory, with the assurance standards and institutional requirements to be specified during the revision of the Capital Markets Act.
Grace period measures taking into account companies' preparation time will also be maintained. Scope 3 disclosures, which refer to supply chain emissions, will be deferred for three years as in the original draft, in consideration of the burden on small and medium-sized enterprises. The FSC plans to push for a revision of the Capital Markets Act within this year to establish a legal basis, and, together with relevant ministries, will support the strengthening of companies' ESG disclosure capabilities through consulting and policy financing.
Han Jeong-ae, chair of the Democratic Party's Policy Committee, said, "ESG disclosure is a foundation for promoting corporate management innovation and boosting the trust of the market and investors," adding, "We will push it forward with a sense of speed as a national task to strengthen national competitiveness."
Rep. Park Sang-hyeok, the ruling party's secretary on the National Assembly's National Policy Committee, also said, "In the National Assembly, we will do our best to ensure that legal revisions and budget increases can proceed while consulting more closely with the government on the contents announced in today's party-government consultation."
