한국 철강산업의 지속가능경영 분석

In 2025, Korea’s steel industry is facing significant challenges to its sustainable management due to supply surpluses stemming from China, tariff hikes imposed by the United States, and various other ESG pressures. Against this backdrop, this study aimed to organize the wide-ranging issues emerging across environmental, social, governance, and economic dimensions, and to examine how two leading Korean steel companies—POSCO Holdings and Hyundai Steel —are perceiving and responding to these issues. By analyzing their sustainability reports with respect to 19 key issues, it was found that POSCO is managing social and governance issues relatively well, whereas in the environmental area it has set plans but lacks substantial outcomes. Economically, POSCO is facing considerable global challenges and is currently in a very difficult situation. For Hyundai Steel, the analysis revealed that only social issues are being managed well, while there are shortcomings in its environmental management. Furthermore, governance requires changes, and its economic issues demand long-term, fundamental responses from a macro perspective. This study has certain limitations. As it is based on the analysis of corporate sustainability reports, it could not capture aspects that companies chose not to disclose. Moreover, the issues highlighted in this study do not represent absolute standards of sustainable management. Nonetheless, by examining how companies are responding to these major issues that have emerged as key concerns at this point in time, this research can help raise awareness and encourage the development of improved measures.