Kakao Pay publishes 2025 ESG report

Jun 30, 2026, 09:35 am

Kakao Pay announced on the 30th that it disclosed its 2025 ESG Report containing AI-centered grand transformation achievements spanning from its way of working to entire business processes, and its future sustainable management vision.

This report is Kakao Pay's fourth ESG report. It contains the sustainable management activities and achievements of Kakao Pay alongside its subsidiaries Kakao Pay Securities, Kakao Pay Insurance, and Paymint.

The biggest characteristic of this year's report is the point that it fully reflected the direction of 'AX (AI Transformation)' being pursued by Kakao Pay throughout the entire report. Moving beyond simple technology adoption, Kakao Pay is completely redesigning its corporate constitution centered on AI, and contained the 'AI-based financial innovation' story and sustainable management achievements created through this in this report.

This flow of AX grand transformation was mirrored intactly in Kakao Pay’s 'double materiality assessment' as well. As a result of simultaneously analyzing the impact that management activities exert on the external environment and society and the impact on financial value, it selected 'AI-based financial innovation' as a new material issue in addition to existing core issues (personal information protection, financial consumer protection, response to climate change). Kakao Pay transparently disclosed the response status for each issue in accordance with the sustainability disclosure criteria framework of the ISSB (International Sustainability Standards Board) fitting the governance, strategy, risk management, metrics, and targets architecture.

Particularly in step with the AX grand transformation, it advanced disclosure accessibility and competitiveness by one stage. Preemptively reflecting the recent trend where global investors and ESG rating agencies actively utilize AI for corporate data collection and analysis, it introduced the 'AI & Human Dual-Readable' concept. It sophisticated the data structure and disclosure system so that not only humans but also AI as the second reader can accurately recognize vast ESG information without distortion, ensuring Kakao Pay's ESG achievements are clearly delivered even under AI-based data collection environments.

In tandem with this, under the vision of 'All everyday finance with Kakao Pay alone,' Kakao Pay newly established its 2026 ESG strategic framework and embodied its sustainable management direction. Through a special page inside the report, it captured Kakao Pay's unique sincerity that creates social benefits while connecting people and daily lives with financial technology as the medium.

Internal and external ESG achievements practiced throughout the year 2025 also stand out. In the environmental (E) sector, it conducted climate scenario analysis and natural capital risk assessment, and raised environmental data alignment by introducing a carbon accounting platform. It also continued carbon neutrality implementation by procuring approximately 21% of its 2025 electricity usage through renewable energy.

In the social (S) sector, it established mid-to-long-term targets in human rights, safety and health, and mutual growth fields. It was selected as an excellent enterprise for work-life balance supervised by the Ministry of Employment and Labor, and its major subsidiaries Kakao Pay Securities and Kakao Pay Insurance both acquired information security certifications. Particularly for executives and employees, it commenced AX transformation training in earnest, actively supporting the reinforcement of company-wide AI-based work capabilities.

In the governance (G) sector, it operated a chief executive officer candidate pool management system and pursued the approval of the internal directors' remuneration framework. It also strengthened its sustainable growth foundation by building robust governance for AX transformation.

Based on these achievements, Kakao Pay acquired an integrated A grade in the 2025 ESG evaluation by the Korea Institute of Corporate Governance and Sustainability (KCGS). It was also incorporated into the DJ BIC (Best in Class) Korea Index for three consecutive years through the S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment. In February 2026, it acquired the Prime grade in the ESG evaluation by ISS (Institutional Shareholder Services)—the world's largest proxy advisory firm—gaining recognition for its unrivaled sustainable management capabilities.

Shin Won-keun, CEO of Kakao Pay, stated, "Now, AI has moved beyond a simple technological tool to become a core leadership that determines an enterprise's sustainability and future competitiveness," adding, "Kakao Pay will lower financial barriers through responsible AI technology utilization and ceaseless financial innovation, and continue sustainable growth based on trust together with all stakeholders."

Son Kang-hoon

#Kakao Pay