Climate change consulting firm Ecosense helps Korean firms on path to green management

The Korea Herald, in collaboration with the Korea Environmental Industry & Technology Institute, is presenting a series of articles introducing small but promising environmental tech firms. The following is the sixth installment. ― Ed.


Climate change has become a major concern in the global corporate world as regulations are tightened and consumers are increasingly conscious of the environment.

The trend is a challenge for many companies in emerging economies which are just starting to integrate ecological considerations into their business plans even in the global economic downturn.

Ecosense, a Seoul-based consultancy founded by a group of environmental professors, aims to play a role in this, helping firms adapt to the new reality and cope with fast-evolving regulations at home and abroad.

“We started with a mission to share with industries what academia has achieved in the study of climate change and help them find workable solutions in various industrial fields,” its CEO Kwon Dong-myung said. 

Kwon, who has been running the firm since 2006, is among the 13 Yonsei University professors who started it.

Though a late bloomer, Korea is now fast catching up with advanced countries in the West with its aggressive “low-carbon, green growth” drive. The country, which was, by 2009 figures, the world’s eighth-largest emitter of carbon pollution, has set a goal of reducing emissions by 30 percent from projected levels by 2020.

In January 2015, a national carbon exchange is to launch, where companies will buy or sell rights to emit carbon dioxide.

“The introduction of a cap-and-trade system will lead to increased demand in related markets for technologies and systems to reduce emissions and to record and calculate the amount of emitted gases,” the CEO said.

That will also lead to increased business opportunities for consultancies like Ecosense, he added.

What makes Ecosense stand out in Korea is that it delivers both software and hardware solutions, from consulting services to management software systems like ERP and physical equipment to monitor energy use and gas emissions.

“By combining green IT systems with the energy-greenhouse gas monitoring technologies, we provide real solutions, not just management advice, and help our clients to reduce energy use and carbon emissions,” Kwon said.

Ecosense’ greenhouse gas and energy monitoring system is the outcome of the firm’s joint project with the state-run Korea Environmental Industries and Technology Institute to develop an easy-to-use tool for companies, public agencies and even ordinary homemakers to control energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

“We developed the product because we confronted the necessity of such a system, while providing consulting services to companies,” Kwon said.

Unlike existing systems, it is easy to install and use, yet very reliable, he said.

The system is now in use at 14 public organizations, including the municipal governments of Seoul, Busan and Daegu and more than 100 private companies, including KT Corp, Korea’s top fixed-line operator and No. 2 mobile carrier, and Kia Motors Corp., the nation’s second-largest carmaker.

Ecosense, buoyed by its local success, is now striving to penetrate foreign markets.

It landed its first overseas deal earlier this year to provide the energy-carbon monitoring system to Japan’s Tokai EC.

“We are trying to secure another foreign deal, in Indonesia, by the end of this year,” he said.

Ecosense, which reported 5 billion won ($5.5 million) in revenue in 2011, expects a twofold increase in revenue this year.

By Lee Sun-young (milaya@heraldcorp.com)