AIA Korea, the Korean unit of Hong Kong-based AIA Group, is strengthening its position in climate finance within the local financial sector, aligning with the parent company’s push to reinforce its response to climate risks and its role in sustainable finance.
The company has expanded its renewable-energy and transition-infrastructure investments, building roughly 900 billion won ($611.14 million) in Environmental, Social, and Governance bond holdings as of the end of 2024. It is also increasing the share of portfolios aligned with the Science Based Targets initiative, with about 25 percent of its assets now meeting SBTi criteria.
AIA Korea is advancing environmental management on the operational side as well. Its headquarters building, AIA Tower in central Seoul, earned Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, Gold certification under the latest v4.1 standard in May, recognizing performance in energy efficiency and resource management. The building also holds the WELL Health-Safety Rating for systems designed to address pandemics and disasters.
Beyond its investment and operational initiatives, AIA Korea is extending its environmental work into broader community settings. While climate commitments remain central to its strategy, the company has expanded its focus to programs that integrate nature, public spaces and employee participation into its environmental agenda.
AIA Korea has taken part in the Seoul International Garden Show over the past two years, creating corporate garden spaces designed to link urban environments with mental well-being and ecological restoration. Its most recent installation, the Rethink Healthy Garden, used recycled materials such as reclaimed bricks and drew more than 10 million visitors from May through October. A similar garden at Ttukseom Hangang Park the previous year also served as a recovery space for residents, attracting about 7.8 million visitors.
The company has expanded these community-focused efforts beyond Seoul. In June, during World Environmental Month, employees and sales representatives joined a coastal cleanup at Gwangalli Beach in Busan, collecting waste along the shoreline as part of a broader effort to support local ecosystems.
These local activities build on AIA Group’s broader sustainability strategy, which has made climate risk a core priority. The group and AIA Korea work with more than 50 companies in the energy-transition and power-generation sectors and invest across green bonds, renewable energy and alternative-infrastructure projects.
AIA Group has committed to reaching net zero by 2050 and expanding SBTi-aligned standards to 100 percent of its investment portfolio by 2040. To support this, all portfolio managers and analysts at both the group and AIA Korea are required to hold the Chartered Financial Analyst Institute’s Certificate in ESG Investing, ensuring consistent integration of climate-risk analysis in investment decisions.
The group has also cut its Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 25 percent from 2019 levels, expanded green-building and WELL certifications across the region, reduced paper consumption through digitalization and strengthened environmental oversight of primary suppliers. About 63 percent of primary suppliers now rank within the top 15 percent of global ESG assessments, providing the structural foundation supporting AIA Korea’s climate-finance and environmental commitments.
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