SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won delivers the keynote address at the SV Leaders Summit, held as part of the SOVAC social value forum, in September 2023. (SK Group) SK Group said Friday it created 32.2 trillion won ($21 billion) in social value last year, a figure that has roughly doubled since 2018 when the company first began measuring its social impact in monetary terms.Quantifying social impact in monetary terms lets SK track contributions that companies typically report only in qualitative terms. SK has done so annually for eight years under what it calls "double bottom line" management, an approach that treats economic value and social value as parallel goals rather than competing ones.Social value, in SK's definition, is the company's contribution to solving or easing the social problems its stakeholders face. SK Group put its 2025 social value at 32.2 trillion won, up across most of the metric it has tracked for eight years. Gains in economic contribution and social performance more than offset a 3.06 trillion won environmental cost driven by its AI and chip operations. (SK Group) The total rests on three categories. Indirect economic contribution, the largest at 31.8 trillion won, captures wages, dividends and taxes. Environmental impact is recorded as a cost at negative 3.1 trillion won. Social performance, covering workplace safety, cooperation with suppliers and community programs, came to 3.4 trillion won and has risen for three consecutive years, enough to offset the environmental deficit. Measured against revenue, every 100 million won now yields 14.04 million won in social value, up 33 percent from 2023.Not every line improved. The environmental figure fell from negative 2.9 trillion won a year earlier as SK's AI and semiconductor operations expanded output, and emissions along with it. Affiliates are responding with more energy-efficient equipment and a higher share of renewable power.SK presents the framework as preparation for tightening disclosure rules abroad, including the EU's sustainability reporting directive, and is weighing whether to open its measurement tools to other companies."We have spent eight years sincerely committed to measuring social value," an SK official said, adding that the company intends to combine that experience with AI to make measurement easier.Detailed results are due on SK's website later this month.