The number of KOSPI-listed companies that voluntarily disclosed a 2025 sustainability report came to 225, up about 10% from 204 the previous year. This is the result of a disclosure analysis released by the Korea Exchange on January 5. On the same basis, 213 companies, or 95% of all disclosing companies, identified and disclosed climate change risks and opportunities. That is up 16 percentage points from 79% a year earlier.
The density of the content did not keep pace with the rise in the number of disclosures. Companies that presented climate-related financial impacts in figures such as monetary amounts numbered 39 (17%), and those that also disclosed the basis for calculating those figures numbered 21 (9%). Companies stating that they had conducted an analysis of climate-related financial impacts numbered 207 (92%). The gap between the stage of mentioning a risk and the stage of putting a value on that risk is the central point of this analysis.
The number of disclosing companies has grown roughly threefold in four years, from 78 in 2021. The growth rate fell from 27% a year earlier to 10%. By industry, manufacturing accounted for 113 companies and finance and insurance for 48, making up the majority.
The variation by company size was also wide. Among companies with total assets of 2 trillion won or more, 67% disclosed a report, while companies below 2 trillion won stood at 9%. By market capitalization, the figure was 86% for 10 trillion won or more, 65% for 2 trillion to 10 trillion won, and 17% for below 2 trillion won.
On greenhouse gas emissions, 224 companies (99%) disclosed Scope 1 and 2, effectively all of them. Only three companies (1%) disclosed on a consolidated basis. Companies disclosing Scope 3 numbered 154 (68%), and among the 149 that classified categories in their disclosure, the average number of categories disclosed was 8.1. Companies that conducted and disclosed climate scenario analysis numbered 85 (38%), up 18 from the previous year.
Adoption rates for reporting standards were 99% for GRI, 96% for SASB and 89% for TCFD, in that order, and 47 companies (21%) reflected the ISSB standards. In an analysis report issued by Samjong KPMG on January 6, covering the 2024 sustainability reports of 216 listed companies, the share responding that they had referred to the ISSB or the KSSB was put at 18%. The two surveys cover different years and samples, so the ratios cannot be compared directly. In the same report, 99% of the 216 companies applied a double materiality assessment, while about 60% analyzed the impact of physical risks and 50% transition risks.
Domestic trends move in step with changes in overseas norms. The ISSB requires companies to explain the current and anticipated effects of climate-related risks and opportunities on the financial statements, the income statement and the cash flow statement, and the ESRS requires them to specify capital expenditure (CapEx) and operating expenditure (OpEx) related to climate action. In a survey released in 2025 by Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand, 38% of companies said they had reflected climate risk in their 2024 financial statements, more than double the 18% recorded in 2021. The items reflected were asset impairment at 38%, estimates of key accounting indicators at 22% and assumptions on depreciation periods at 13%, in that order.
In its 2025 investor expectations document, the European institutional investor network IIGCC pointed to the problem of the low-carbon transition and physical climate risk not being reflected in financial statements, and called for companies and auditors to specify the related assumptions and uncertainties in the notes. In Asia as well, China put mandatory ESG disclosure into effect from 2026, centered on its three main stock exchanges, and the Ministry of Finance prepared a pilot climate disclosure standard aligned with the ISSB. Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and Japan have also introduced disclosure obligations or finalized the scope and timing of implementation.
Financial authorities are reviewing a plan to make ESG disclosure mandatory for listed companies above a certain asset size. Observers expect large listed companies with total assets exceeding 2 trillion won to be covered first, with the scope later widening to all KOSPI-listed companies, but no final plan setting out the year of implementation and the scope of application has been announced. The exchange also presented best-practice disclosure examples in four areas, including risks and opportunities, financial impacts and scenario analysis.
In this analysis, the two figures of 39 companies and 21 companies show the extent to which climate risk has been translated into financial language. While the discussion of mandatory disclosure proceeds, the indicator investors will check is not limited to whether a report has been published. What must be looked at is whether the amount of the risk and the premises behind its calculation are written down together. The release of the detailed policy plan is the next point to watch.
