Lee Jeong-hwan (right), head of the Korea Real Estate Board's industry support division, and Choi Sang-su, deputy president of iM Bank, pose for a photo after signing the MOU. [Korea Real Estate Board]
Lee Jeong-hwan (right), head of the Korea Real Estate Board's industry support division, and Choi Sang-su, deputy president of iM Bank, pose for a photo after signing the MOU. [Korea Real Estate Board]

The Korea Real Estate Board signed a mutual cooperation MOU with iM Bank on Thursday to promote voluntary energy reduction in buildings and expand environmental, social and governance (ESG) financial support.

The agreement aims to advance building energy reduction and the spread of ESG finance. Under the MOU, the two institutions will collaborate on developing financial products by combining the Korea Real Estate Board's building energy database with iM Bank's financial infrastructure.

The building energy database is a consolidated database established under Article 10 of the Act on the Promotion of Green Buildings, linking information from building registers with electricity, city gas and district heating consumption data provided by energy supply agencies.

The two institutions agreed to cooperate on three areas: business exchanges to support the achievement of national greenhouse gas reduction targets and promote sustainable management; use of the building energy database and development of ESG-linked financial products to encourage voluntary energy reduction in the private sector; and any other matters they mutually agree upon for the advancement of both organizations.

Meanwhile, the Korea Real Estate Board has previously signed ESG financial support MOUs with Shinhan Bank in September 2023, the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund in December 2023, and SC First Bank in September 2024. The latest agreement marks the fourth case of private financial product support using the building energy database.

"Through this MOU, I hope the building energy data assets held by the Korea Real Estate Board will be integrated with private financial products to encourage the public to voluntarily reduce carbon emissions," Korea Real Estate Board President Lee Heon-uk said. "We will continue to expand private-sector cooperation to further strengthen our climate crisis response framework based on building energy data."


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