BKT Co. Ltd. Included in ‘Best Group’ among the 2021 UN Sustainable Development Goals Business Index (SDGBI) for Three Consecutive Years
DAEJEON, KOREA - BKT Co. Ltd., a leader in sustainable wastewater treatment and parent company of Tomorrow Water, has ranked in the “Best Group” of global companies in the 2021 United Nations Sustainable Development Goal’s Business Index (UN SDGBI) announced by the UN SDGs Association, a special consultative status organization of the UN Economic and Social Council.
First released in 2016, the index evaluates roughly 3,000 global companies based on 12 criteria and 48 indicators in four sectors: Society, Environment, Economy and Policy.
Out of 3,000 global companies evaluated, only 303 were included in this year’s SDGBI. BKT alongside notable companies such as Tesla, Intel, JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Cisco, SK Hynix, and CJ were selected among the “Best Group” in the global index that best fulfill the UN’s 17 goals for sustainable and ESG (Environment, Social Responsibility, Governance) management practices. This will be BKT’s third consecutive year ranking in the “Best Group.”
The UN SDGs Association explained that BKT’s ranking resulted from:
CEO’s SDGs leadership
continuous R&D to response to climate change
innovative wastewater treatment technology and processes
sustainable eco-friendly initiatives such as TWP, GTP, and Water AI received high scores
BKT registered the Tomorrow Water Project (TWP) as an initiative (#12177) on the UN SDGs website in 2016 when the SDGs were first implemented, focusing on water, renewable energy, climate change, smart city, infrastructure, resource reuse, and technological development and commercialization.
TWP is a futuristic profit-making wastewater treatment model for developing countries. By building an integrated sewage treatment facility alongside a biogas plant and data center in one location, it can generate energy using various organic wastes, while simultaneously leveraging wastewater to cool the data center. TWP helps to address climate change while bridging the technological and economic gap for developing nations.
Commercialization of the Proteus/BBF biofiltration system which separates solids (sludge) in sewage, allows for more energy to power treatment processes, while reducing the removal of organic matter in downstream process.
Proteus/BBF technology was recognized as a cutting-edge replacement technology to primary clarifiers in the September issue of the Global Water Intelligence CTO Market Map.
The integrated digestion of sludge with other organic wastes can realize economies of scale in biogas production, enabling treatment plants to become energy self-sufficient. It can effectively respond to climate change by converting methane into renewable energy without releasing it into the atmosphere. Considering that more energy is required to treat high-concentration wastewater generated during co-digestion, BKT introduced 2-stage AMX (anammox) to efficiently remove nitrogen in wastewater. Furthermore, Tomorrow Water’s thermal hydrolysis process, Draco, boosts biogas production while effectively minimizing sludge.
Tomorrow Water plans to successfully establish a TWP pilot by 2025 and provide leadership to develop and expand future wastewater facilities in developing countries.