National Taiwan University and the Risk Society and Policy Research Center of National Taiwan University (NTU RSPRC) jointly hosted the "Fubon Globalization Forum Series" on the topic of "Net Zero Transformation by 2050 X March Toward the Global Common Good" with Fubon Financial Holding Co., Ltd. and Fubon Cultural & Educational Foundation on December 1, 2021. At this lecture session studded with distinguished guests, Yuan-Tseh Lee, the Nobel Prize winner and the academician of Academia Sinica, served as a keynote speaker again after six years; Gennie Yen, the president of Veda International Corp. and the founder of CSRone.com served as a presider; Stan Shih, the founder of Acer Group and the chairman of Stan Shih Foundation, delivered a speech and moderated the discussion; as well as Eugene Chien, the director general of Taiwan Alliance for Net Zero Emission and the chairman of Taiwan Institute for Sustainable Energy (hereinafter referred to as TAISE), Hai, Ying-Jun (also known as YANCEY), the chairman of Delta Electronics Inc. (Delta Electronics), Louis Chen, the chairman of ESG Global Citizen Foundation, and Su, Ching-Sheng, the director of the Office of Energy and Carbon Reduction of the Executive Yuan (hereinafter referred to as the Energy Reduction Office) jointly participated in the morning session. In addition, Tseng, Wen-Sheng, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Daniel M. Tsai, the chairman of Fubon Group Chairman, and Su, Hung-Dah, the dean of the College of Social Sciences of National Taiwan University (NTU COSS), were also invited to address the event. For the seminar series - Run for Green Together - in the afternoon session on the topic of "Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD)" during the transition process of enterprises heading toward net zero, to be discussed from the aspects of TCFD and policies as well as TCFD and enterprises respectively, Huang Chao-Yung, the editor-in-chief of CSR @CommonWealth Magazine, Chang, Chen-Shan, the director general of the Securities and Futures Bureau of the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC), Li, Yi-Hua, the chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers Sustainability Services Company Ltd., Martin Su, the coordinator of 350 Taiwan, Lin, Mao-Sheng, the vice president of the Corporate Communications Division of Fubon Financial Holding Co., Ltd., Leu, Jang-Hwa, the director general of the Industrial Development Bureau of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Liu, Li-Hui (also known as CINDY), the vice president of the Sustainability and Brand Development Division of Taiwan Mobile Co., Ltd. (Taiwan Mobile), Chang, Li-Jung, the manager of the Corporate Sustainability Department of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (TSMC), and Pien, Chung-Pei, the assistant professor of the International College of Innovation of National Chengchi University, etc., were invited to join the discussion together. It was an occasion where people who were concerned about climate change from all walks of life throughout Taiwan gathered together to participate in this cross-industry great event for net zero in Taiwan with the financial industry, civic groups and academia.
The lecture was kicked off by Chou, Kuei-Tien, the director of the NTU RSPRC and the organizer of this event. Chou, Kuei-Tien emphasized that the NTU RSPRC, as a policy platform for Taiwan’s net-zero transformation, has made numerous efforts together with the Fubon Group internationally and domestically in climate change. At the same time, he also extended much of his gratitude to the forum participants from various organizations for joining this important discussion. Su, Hung-Dah raised the issue of inevitable and extensive impact on all levels of Taiwanese society imposed by carbon emission regulations in the future and expected that everyone would work together to find a good solution to sustainability and environmental risks. Tseng, Wen-Sheng pointed out that the energy transition is the core and key to achieving net zero carbon emissions. How to effectively form a consensus for energy transition is a challenge for the government under the structure of democratic governance; the Ministry of Economic Affairs expected to build a platform for public participation and discussion on energy and climate related issues. The referendum to be held at the end of this year has also brought about plenty of attention and debate on issues of energy transition. All of these are important nutrients for Taiwan to move toward net zero.
Daniel M. Tsai believed that the biggest challenge for Taiwan to move toward net zero carbon emissions is the lack of consensus on practices in response to climate change (particularly on related definitions of and regulations on carbon tax, carbon rights, footprints, etc.); Taking his experience of being the convener of the Sustainability Committee at the Chinese National Association of Industry and Commerce, Taiwan as an example, he found that not only there was a high attendance with active discussions but also much difficulty in reaching a consensus and resolution at the discussion meetings on the issue of "how to achieve net zero". Therefore, he made an appeal to revise Taiwan’s current carbon reduction target to be more active, rather than just stay on the transition target for natural gas by 2025; and a consensus should be built for the joint efforts with the youth and future generations. On the other hand, Stan Shih emphasized that the energy-saving and carbon-reduction products produced in Taiwan have played an important role in global carbon reduction and will make a huge contribution in the future as well; however, Taiwan itself must apply the methods of carbon prices and carbon trading to reflect the cost of carbon emissions and to serve as the incentive for Taiwan to use these energy-saving and carbon reduction technologies, so as to speedily advance Taiwan's net zero carbon emissions process.
【A group photo of the distinguished guests at the opening ceremony and the distinguished guests in the morning session】
(from the second right in the front row) Lin, Mao-Sheng、Chou, Kuei-Tien、Hai, Ying-Jun、Stan Shih、Daniel M. Tsai、Yuan-Tseh Lee、Tseng, Wen-Sheng、Eugene Chien、Gennie Yen、Su, Hung-Dah、Su, Ching-Sheng
【Keynote Speech】
Presider: Gennie Yen, the president of Veda International Corp. and the founder of CSRone. com
Speaker: Yuan-Tseh Lee, the academician of Academia Sinica
The presider of the keynote speech, Gennie Yen, briefly introduced the key resolutions reached at COP26 (the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties) in the opening remark, and then gave the floor to the keynote speaker, the academician Yuan-Tseh Lee. Yuan-Tseh Lee came straight to the point commenting on the title of the lecture that net zero carbon emissions can no longer be regarded to be able to achieve the "common good," but only to avoid becoming "worse." The current efforts of mankind can only avoid "sinking further downward". He cited many scientific data demonstrating that the massive use of fossil fuels after the industrial revolution, coupled with the rapid population growth and overload, has been rapidly changing the Earth's environment, and the most significant of these is the change in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases generated by burning fossil fuels have caused the warming and air pollution of the Earth. Up to now, the Earth’s temperature has increased by about 1 degree Celsius. The warming of 1 degree Celsius has led to a significant impact on parts of the Earth. The energy buildup out of its warming causes the increase of extreme climates, the disappearance of species, as well as the survival of human beings on the Earth, having been endangered; Therefore, the global temperature control has been revised to adopt the temperature increase below 1.5 degrees Celsius instead of the 2 degrees Celsius in the past. Extreme weather events caused by global warming are not uncommon, such as Siaolin Village devastated by Typhoon Morakot, the spread of forest fires in California, Australia, and Canada, the flooding of Osaka Airport in Japan, and the flooding of the Rhine River in Germany. The damage caused by these extreme climates is getting more and more serious.
In 2015, 197 countries signed the Paris Agreement demonstrating their determination and efforts, which is an important milestone in the global fight against climate change. However, it is regrettable to see that, as of today in 2021, carbon dioxide has not been reduced at all, but has continued to increase. Taiwan needs to change the current economic production model that highly emphasizes GDP and move toward a development model that decouples economic growth from carbon emissions (The United Kingdom, Germany, France and others have already made it happen). Yuan-Tseh Lee pointed out that in 1987, the report entitled "Our Common Future" (also known as Brundtland Report) defined sustainable development as "the development model that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs". Nevertheless, has the "development" of mankind faced over-exploitation? What will be the "needs" of the younger generation? Both of these are issues that urgently need to be discussed and no consensus has been reached thereon. Yuan-Tseh Lee emphasized the need to jointly fight this battle of climate change from the three perspectives of politics, society, and technology. From a political point of view, this is a global issue that needs to be dealt with by global organizations; from the perspective of social development, human society has been progressing to the extent of over-exploitation, and it is bound to look for a different development model; while from a technological point of view, sunlight is sufficient, and humans must learn to store and transform the energy given off by the sun to create a bottom-up sharing that transcends national boundaries. Finally, Yuan-Tseh Lee called on scholars, scientists, and students from all walks of life to wake up to the need for actively participating in climate action and change of the status quo.
【Keynote Speech】
Presider: Gennie Yen(left), Speaker: Yuan-Tseh Lee(right)
【Comprehensive Panel Discussion】
Moderator:
Stan Shih, the founder of Acer Group and the chairman of Stan Shih Foundation
Panelists:
Su, Ching-Sheng, the director the Office of Energy and Carbon Reduction, Executive Yuan
Eugene Chien, the director general of Taiwan Alliance for Net Zero Emission and the chairman of Taiwan Institute for Sustainable Energy
Hai, Ying-Jun, the chairman of Delta Electronics Inc.
Louis Chen, the chairman of ESG Global Citizen Foundation
The first panelist during the comprehensive panel discussion in the morning session was Su, Ching-Sheng, the director of the Energy Reduction Office of the Executive Yuan, mentioned that President TSAI, ING-WEN announced at this year’s National Day ceremony that the goal of achieving net zero emissions in Taiwan by 2050 is based primarily on solution-oriented thinking as well as taking account of the decarbonization of the energy system on the supply side, industrial transformation on the demand side, carbon negative technologies and carbon sinks through afforestation; The ratio of self-produced energy and reduced energy import should also be increased, to be combined with carbon negative technologies or imported green hydrogen. In addition, he emphasized that state-owned enterprises or leading industries should take the lead in demonstrating to small scale enterprises how to build up their ability to reduce carbon emissions, and put forward a strategy for net zero transformation to energy, manufacturing, transportation, and other sectors. For example, the transportation sector may refer to the United Nations Environment Programme for demand reduction, transfer of transportation equipment, and technology improvement. Finally, he mentioned the promotion of green financing strategy so to encourage financial institutions to invest in green energy and guide corporate investment in sustainable development activities. He concluded that the goal of net zero emissions by 2050 is an imperative, and the formation of the social consensus is the key to it. As a foreign trade-oriented country, Taiwan must locate its own position and goal.
The second panelist, Eugene Chien, the chairman of TAISE, believed that without net zero, there will be no global common good. We are on the path toward co-destruction because of excessive carbon dioxide production. IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) conducted the actuarial calculation and the outcome indicated that global warming must be controlled within 1.5 degrees Celsius and carbon neutrality must be achieved by 2050. Therefore, many countries and cities around the world have successively responded to the carbon neutral target by 2050. Climate change brings about two major threats to human survival and civilization, including the physical risks of casualties with home destruction and environmental degradation, as well as the transition risks of mitigation and adaptation. In addition, he mentioned that in order to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, mankind needs to modify production methods, lifestyles, and business models, and change all the way from thinking and consensus, behavior and action, to development and conservation; Therefore, it is nothing about technological innovation or simple policy change, but relating to a great transformation of human society. This great transformation will make the human society in the future completely different from that nowadays; for example, the global economy is facing an unprecedented huge transformation, the use of non-carbon fuels in transportation, the supply chain sustainability, the change in the ecology of international trade due to carbon tariffs, and the arrival of Generation Z’s expectation for a net zero era. Finally, he emphasized that the global financial community is the cornerstone of advancing the net zero emission task.
The third panelist, Hai, Ying-Jun, the chairman of Delta Electronics, addressed the topic of "Global Trends in Net Zero and Taiwan Industry’s Response". He mentioned that Delta Electronics has implemented the carbon reduction work since 2009 and shared the experience. He was also concerned about the net zero initiatives of COP26, including phasing out coal-fired power generation, global methane initiative, improving energy efficiency, and using zero-emission vehicles. For example: How to reduce the production of methane, which can be reduced by changing livestock feed or eating less beef. For example: As to how to reduce the production of methane, among other things, methane can be reduced by changing livestock feed or eating less beef. He spoke about the Paris Agreement adopted at COP21 in 2016, which turned out to be much said but little done. So far, global greenhouse gas emissions are, on the contrary, still increasing, while Taiwan's greenhouse gas emissions are standing still. On the other hand, Taiwan’s enterprises have made some progress. The number of companies participating in the evaluation for being included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices has reached a new high. The technology industry has also established the Taiwan Climate Partnership, which requires the supply chain to provide green products and promotes industrial integration with international initiatives in order to form a consensus, establish connections, and put them into practice cooperatively. Delta Electronics’ revenue growth since 2018 has been decoupled from carbon emissions through practices of autonomous energy conservation, photovoltaic installations, and the purchase of certificates.
The fourth panelist, Louis Chen, the chairman of ESG Global Citizenship Foundation, addressed the topic of "ESG and Digital Strategies for Climate Change" in the hope that Taiwan will become a global citizen as well as a major country of ESG digital innovation. He proposed establishing an organization for the digital governance platform to digitally convey the idea of a global citizen so as to achieve the vision of an ideal country for a global citizen. Citizens have the responsibility to create changes; he believed that the ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) agenda has formed a consensus, which is followed by the issue of how to implement it in order to face climate change. The problem of the industry is the key to it. In addition, he believed that the industry also has great opportunities and sustainable competitiveness must be cultivated. The five major steps to attain this end include compliance with the law to see business opportunities, sustainable value chains, sustainable products and services, new business models, and new industrial platforms. He advocated global citizens and human civilization having to be changed within 30 years. The world has the opportunity to change. However, the focus is on the change of concepts.
During the online Q&A session, one participant asked that "What kind of students and talents are needed in different industries in the face of net zero transition?". Louis Chen responded: Taiwan’s education side needs to get more connected with the industry side, and funds available for the R&D vision as well as the creation of platforms for talents are crucial. Stan Shih replied that: All aspects or talents from all walks of life are all needed; As teachers and students know about the facts of climate change simultaneously, the authority of knowledge no longer exists as much. Therefore, the transformation of teachers' teaching is very important.
【Comprehensive panel discussion in the morning session】
(from left)Su, Ching-Sheng、Hai, Ying-Jun、Eugene Chien、Daniel M. Tsai、Yuan-Tseh Lee、Stan Shih、Gennie Yen、Louis Chen、Chou, Kuei-Tien
[Run for Green Together - Policies for Net Zero Challenge Lead Industry Transformation into New Opportunities]
Moderator:
Huang Chao-Yung, the editor-in-chief of CSR@ CommonWealth Magazine
Panelists:
Chang, Chen-Shan, the director general of the Securities and Futures Bureau of the Financial Supervisory Commission
Li, Yi-Hua, the chairman of Pricewaterhousecoopers Sustainability Services Company Ltd.
Martin Su, the coordinator of 350 Taiwan
For the first afternoon session of the Fubon Globalization Lecture on the topic of "Run for Green Together – Policies for Net Zero Challenge Lead Industry Transformation into New Opportunities", the moderator Huang Chao-Yung, the editor-in-chief of CSR@ CommonWealth Magazine, mentioned that the "CSR@ CommonWealth" project of CommonWealth Magazine was concerned about issues of sustainable development, and participated in the COP26 conference this year. It deeply realized that the world should try its best to achieve the goal of temperature rise within 1.5 degrees Celsius. The resolution of "coal phase-out" plays a vital role in industrial transformation and climate change response.
The first panelist, Chang, Chen-Shan, the director general of the Securities and Futures Bureau of the Financial Supervisory Commission, mentioned that one of the important duties of the FSC is to assist companies in dealing with environmental risks they would encounter in the process of sustainable development. This work includes two directions: One is ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) disclosure, and the other is sustainable investment. In terms of ESG disclosure measures, the corporate governance 3.0 is taken as the blueprint for sustainable development, and its five main thrusts for implementation are: strengthening the functions of the board of directors, providing information transparency, enhancing communication with stakeholders, conforming to international standards, and deepening the company culture of sustainable governance; A total of 39 specific measures will be implemented respectively in three years. In addition, it is expected that Taiwan Stock Exchange and Taipei Exchange will amend the "Rules Governing the Preparation and Filing of Corporate Social Responsibility Reports (CSR)" by the end of 2021, which contains the following: Companies with a mandatory capital in the amount of NT$ 2 billion or more in 2023 shall file a CSR report, which is to expand the current scope of filing; More disclosure contents are added, and it is expected to complete the discussion on related disclosures released by the TCFD (Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures) and SASB (Sustainability Accounting Standards Board) in 2021; In order to provide the quality of the CSR report, the amendments to the Rules will be completed by the end of 2021 to expand the scope of third-party verification. The FSC also completed the "amendments to appendixes to annual reports" and the "Disclosure Directive" on November 11 this year, and launched an advocacy campaign to TWSE-listed and TPEx-listed companies respectively in northern, central and southern Taiwan so as to guide companies to disclose more important environmental data (quantitative information such as carbon emissions, water consumption, and waste) and social data (occupational disaster data, percentage of female employees and senior executives.
Chang, Chen-Shan further mentioned that the ESG disclosure measures require both public companies and OTC companies to issue annual reports, and OTC companies need to additionally provide CSR reports. Among them, sustainability issues can be divided into five categories, involving a total of 26 issues. The eleven major industries and seven major businesses are also required to respond to at least two to nine issues, so that enterprises can be compared among themselves. Take the semiconductor industry as an example. The semiconductor industry must respond to nine major issues, specifically including greenhouse gas emissions, energy management, water resources and wastewater treatment and management, waste and hazardous materials management, employee health and safety, employee engagement, diversity and inclusion, product design and life cycle management, material procurement and efficiency, and competitive behavior. Companies must know well their own conditions. Chang, Chen-Shan concluded that, as far as the whole topic is concerned, TCFD aims to make everyone understand the impact on electricity bills, the costs of carbon reduction and revenue after the temperature rise, and to explain with qualitative concepts and quantitative methods how companies should prepare.
The second panelist was Li, Yi-Hua, the chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers Sustainability Services Company Ltd. She started from how to make adjustment and change from the market structure as well as laws, regulations and policies, and the implementation and continuation of the Green Finance Action Plan 2.0. She believes that when the laws, regulations and policies of various countries move toward the goal of net zero, they will guide the development of the industry and further the reorganization of financial markets of various countries. However, Li, Yi-Hua also pointed out that climate change not only causes risks, but also creates opportunities. Companies should actively grasp business opportunities during the low-carbon transition. For example, the use of hydrogen energy might become a new focus of the energy industry. Australia, South Korea, Japan, the European Union, and Germany have all already set specific goals in long-term development strategies for hydrogen energy, and international enterprises such as Hyundai Company from Korea, British Petroleum (BP), Microsoft, Airbus, Siemens, and Mitsubishi have even begun to deploy hydrogen energy.
In addition, Li, Yi-Hua also spoke about the time when the the global carbon pricing and carbon trading emerge, enterprises need to establish a sound climate governance framework through TCFD. For example, in September 2020, New Zealand took the lead among all the nations in the world in announcing its new TCFD legislation. After that, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Japan, Singapore, and Taiwan all have in succession regulated the schedule for the TCFD disclosure. Moreover, various competent authorities in the UK have further formulated different paths and timetables for different types of industries and retirement funds in the aspect of the TCFD disclosure. Finally, Li, Yi-Hua believes that full disclosure of climate-related finance is a pivotal tool to achieve net zero finance so as to support the positive cycle of net zero industry and net zero finance.
The third panelist, Martin Su, the coordinator of 350 Taiwan, suggested that the best way is to start with emission reduction by the industry that has impact on fossil fuel, so that the rise in air temperature can be controlled within 350 ppm (i.e., 1.5 or 2 degrees Celsius) as soon as possible. 350.org tried to slow down the development of this type of industry or force it to be suspended through the Blockadia campaign at the worksite of the fossil fuel industry in the early days. Afterwards, 350.org advocated the divestment movement and effectuated divestment to investors that affect diversity. He mentioned that in view of the fact that the public had not much idea of how the private sector operates and the value behind the enterprise, 350.org promoted a series of activities, including the advocacy of campus divestment in 2017 so that campuses no longer fund the fossil fuel industry, and the G20 divestment initiative in Japan in 2019 to make progress in divestment actions by Japan - Asia's leading fossil fuel investor. Through these actions, 350.org expects to guide the public to use their own power to bring about changes in financial institutions. Martin Su pointed out that presently E.SUN Bank, Cathay Bank and Fubon Bank have all joined corporate actions, and he expected to see more companies join such actions. Finally, he mentioned that although the replacement of fossil fuels with 100% renewable energy is an important development trend, we must also take into account fairness and justice while emphasizing rapid deployment and replacement so as to ensure that the damage to people, things and matters in this process is reduced.
【The first panel discussion in the afternoon session】
(from left)Chou, Kuei-Tien、Huang, Chao-Yung、Li, Yi-Hua、Chang, Chen-Shan、Martin Su
[Run for Green Together - Net Zero Implementation, TCFD Drives Enterprises to Achieve Net Zero]
Moderator:
Lin, Mao-Sheng, the vice president of the Corporate Communications Division of Fubon Financial Holding Co., Ltd.
Panelists:
Leu, Jang-Hwa, the director general of the Industrial Development Bureau of the Ministry of Economic Affairs
Liu, Li-Hui,, the vice president of the Sustainability and Brand Development Division of Taiwan Mobile Co., Ltd.
Chang, Li-Jung, the manager of the Corporate Sustainability Department of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
Assistant Professor Pien, Chung-Pei, the assistant professor of the International College of Innovation of National Chengchi University
The second session in the afternoon on the topic of "Net Zero Implementation, TCFD Drives Enterprises to Achieve Net Zero", it focused on various problems and challenges when enterprises implement the TCFD recommendations. Lin, Mao-Sheng, the vice president of the Corporate Communications Division of Fubon Financial Holding Co. Ltd., who served as the moderator, said that Fubon has been a supporter of the TCFD since 2019, and even released the first TCFD report this year. Fubon and NTU RSPRC will continue their experience of cooperation in the past and work together to pay attention to issues of environmental sustainability. The first panelist, Leu, Jang-Hwa, the director general of the Industrial Development Bureau of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, stated that the TCFD is the driving force behind the increasing awareness of climate risk disclosure. As of October this year, there has been 60 companies expressing support for the TCFD, and 21 companies among them are in the manufacturing industry. The TCFD integrates various international climate initiatives to accelerate corporate carbon reduction, and makes corporate carbon management from a nice thing to do to something that must be done. In addition, the TCFD can accelerate the carbon reduction of enterprises. For example, Apple, Nike, and TSMC have all set a timetable for carbon neutrality, driving the momentum for carbon reduction of the supply chain. In terms of the organization and division of labor for the assessment of our country’s path to net zero emissions, the Ministry of Economic Affairs is responsible for the industry's carbon reduction and net zero, and adopts the "2X2 net zero transformation framework", which is low carbon first to be followed by zero carbon vs energy and industry. It will implement the low carbon transition in the energy sector first, and then work on to generate carbon-free energy. For the industrial sector, it will first guide the industry to reduce carbon, and then implement the net zero transformation of the industry. The Ministry of Economic Affairs has also established the work circles for industrial and energy efficiency. There are working groups for the seven major industries. The leading companies will take the lead, and state-owned enterprises will drive private operators. Demonstration highlights will be put forward by using the four major dimensions of "energy efficiency improvement, low-carbon manufacturing process, low-carbon energy, and carbon negative technologies" with large enterprises leading the supply chain to conduct inventory, carbon footprint and carbon reduction.
Liu, Li-Hui, the vice president of the Sustainability and Brand Development Division of Taiwan Mobile Co., Ltd., shared the company's experience in implementing the TCFD recommendations on two occasions, including risk assessment, how to convert it into financial figures, and how to communicate with external parties. She stated that Taiwan Mobile began to introduce the TCFD recommendations as early as in 2018 and released the TCFD report for the first time in 2019. At that time, the financial risk assessment was conducted based on the "increased frequency and severity of severe typhoons". The second release was in this year. The 21 dedicated units identified the potential vulnerability and level of impact of each risk item and constructed the 2021 TCFD climate risk matrix. The second publication was this year. 21 specialized units identified the potential vulnerability and impact of each risk and constructed the 2021 TCFD climate risk matrix. It is found that due to the increasing international demand and standards for sustainability, especially the demand for renewable zero carbon energy, "Corporate Zero Carbon" has become the most primary item in the risk matrix. Therefore, Taiwan Mobile has set a new scientific-based carbon reduction target (SBT) this year to reduce total carbon emissions by 30% in 2030 compared to that in 2019, and to use 100% renewable energy by 2040, based on which the evaluation has been conducted of its impact on the finance. After the evaluation, it is found that Taiwan Mobile has to start building its own green power generation plant, purchasing green power, and making expenditures on carbon reduction related costs in order to reach the target, which is estimated to cost about NT$ 12.6-15 billion. Although the estimated cost sounds staggering, the vice president Liu emphasized that in the process of implementing the TCFD recommendations, the most important thing is the process, not the result, because the results are not necessarily based on scientific evaluation or the most accurate figures. However, during the process, internal discussions can be conducted together to build up a consensus and to select the most valuable risk item for proceeding with the evaluation. This is the most important part.
Chang, Li-Jung, the manager of the Corporate Sustainability Department of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd., started with the founder Morris Chang’s expectations for TSMC stating that TSMC’s mission is to innovate together with customers driving improved quality of life for mankind. All these innovations have one thing in common, that is, the improvement of energy efficiency. We hope to provide customers with the most energy-efficient technology. These innovations all have one thing in common, that is, the improvement of energy efficiency, and we hope to provide customers with the most energy-efficient technology. Chang, Li-Jung believes that TSMC's production can reduce the impact on the environment, and the key to the proper mitigation and adjustment lies in the mechanism of climate governance, including seven related committees and a board of directors from the bottom to the top, working together to promote climate response. This year, TSMC’s board of directors issued very important new measures to link senior managers’ climate change related performance with their salary, so that senior managers can come to their awareness of climate change, further driving their organization to make more innovations. Furthermore, the targets set for mitigation and adjustment can be tracked with quantified indicators, so they will not turn out to be empty talk. In order to make more efforts to save energy and reduce carbon, TSMC has assigned all its fabs into five major energy-saving teams. Each team puts forward at least 400-500 new energy-saving projects each year according to their tasks, and these 460 energy-saving projects saved a total of 500 million kilowatt-hours of electricity last year. TSMC also uses internal communication to allow employees to connect their work with ESG. Since last year, TSMC has held ESG Award, allowing each employee to provide ideas to help the company save energy and reduce carbon emissions. As a member of RE100, TSMC currently has been using 100% green power in its overseas offices and plants. It is estimated that 10% of its Taiwan plant will use renewable energy by 2030. The first self-owned water recycling plant that TSMC cooperates with the government will start to supply water next year, and it targets 30% of the water consumption to be recycled water by 2030. Finally, Chang, Li-Jung stated that suppliers are important green partners of TSMC. In addition to assisting them in setting sustainability goals, TSMC even established the Supplier Sustainability Academy last year to provide free courses to everyone.
The last panelist, Pien, Chung-Pei, the assistant professor at the International College of Innovation of National Chengchi University, talked about the four major trends in greening capital flows from the international, government, corporate, and private aspects, and shared his research feedback on the cooperation between NTU RSPRC and Fubon in corporate sustainable finance. He observed that the attention paid by all walks of life to sustainability issues has increased significantly in the past two years. When the Fubon Globalization Lecture Series talked about TCFD two years ago, it was still at the stage of advocacy and term interpretation; nevertheless, zero carbon, TCFD, and so on have all become the present progressive tense during the past two years. Judging from the changes in the share counts online, it also shows that the public have also become more aware of these issues in the past two years. Under the impact of climate change, the insurance industry can be regarded to bear the brunt of it. More and more payments are made for insurance claims due to climate change, and the financial institution that extends loans to the enterprise also faces the risk of corporate default due to climate impact.
Speaking of the four major trends in greening capital flows, Pien, Chung-Pei stated that the TCFD disclosures has become the mainstream worldwide. Many countries have changed them from recommendations to mandatory enforcement. Our government has begun to play a more active role, regardless of the Green Finance 2.0 put forward by the FSC or the target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050 proposed by the Taiwan government this year. The government has been acting more aggressively than before. So far, 64 companies in Taiwan have signed up to support the TCFD, and 23 companies of them are in the financial and insurance industries. There are also academic units and environmental protection groups in the private sector using materials for advocacy, research, and supervision.
Pien, Chung-Pei believes that the implementation of greening capital flows has entered the deep water area for now, and companies are facing many problems when actually implementing the TCFD recommendations, including the different quality of TCFD reports, whether small and medium-sized enterprises possess the ability to conduct carbon inventories, and the difficulty in assessing enterprises’ 10-year risks of climate change; Many problems of inconsistency in details make comparisons between companies quite difficult. Pien, Chung-Pei is in the opinion that Britain has a very leading institutional design in terms of climate change, which is worthy of reference for Taiwan. By comparison, he noticed the differences in the top, middle, and bottom designs between the United Kingdom and Taiwan. Although Taiwan has top and middle designs, for the bottom design, the data are scattered among various ministries and committees, and it is difficult to integrate the authority, work, and pace. The director general of the Securities and Futures Bureau said in the previous session that this part has begun to be integrated. We, therefore, expect that the government will come up with good results. The bottom design of the United Kingdom especially consolidates data and models for companies, tracks the update and quality of models and data, so that companies can implement the TCFD recommendations on this basis. In addition to the poor quality of data, Taiwan still has difficulties in scientific research, and it also needs more data to develop models.
【The second panel discussion in the afternoon session】
(from left) Liu, Li-Hui、Pien, Chung-Pei、Lin, Mao-Sheng、Leu, Jang-Hwa、Chang, Li-Jung、Chou, Kuei-Tien
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