Shinhan Securities announced on May 9 that it has invested around KRW 14 billion in Ascend Elements, a US-based waste battery recycling company, as part of their efforts to strengthen their global ESG investment.
This investment follows their initial investment of KRW 10 billion in Ascend Elements made in June of last year, and will be used to recycle waste batteries and construct a plant that produces eco-friendly battery materials.
Shinhan Securities made this investment in accordance with Shinhan Financial Group's ESG slogan "Do the Right Thing," which aims to achieve eco-friendly finance worth KRW 30 trillion by 2030, and both Shinhan Bank and Shinhan Capital participated as co-investors.
Ascend Elements specializes in the recovery of rare metals such as lithium, nickel, cobalt, and manganese through the recycling process of waste batteries. The company uses a patent-based original technology called the Hydro-to-Cathode process, which involves extracting metal from waste batteries and producing precursors and cathode materials in a single process, resulting in eco-friendly recycled materials.
As a recipient of $480 million support, the largest of a total of $2.8 billion in mobility ecosystem-related government support programs under the Biden government's bipartisan infrastructure law, Ascend Elements has become a prominent waste battery recycling company in the US.
This investment from Shinhan Securities is a significant contribution towards a carbon-neutral ecosystem. Although electric vehicles are essential in the era of eco-friendly mobility, their production emits a significant amount of carbon and greenhouse gases. Carbon neutrality cannot be achieved by merely expanding the use of electric vehicles. Supply instability due to limited mining resources also poses an obstacle to the widespread adoption of electric vehicles and the establishment of a carbon-neutral ecosystem.
Shinhan Securities is actively investing in the technology field, which is leading innovation in the global next-generation eco-friendly mobility ecosystem. The company has invested in Phantom AI, a global high-performance self-driving vision solution developer, and Nexeon, a cathode material manufacturer.
Shinhan Securities is making efforts in all directions worldwide to promote ESG investments and contribute towards achieving a carbon-neutral ecosystem.
