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Businesses have an increasing responsibility to address global climate change as risks intensify. Extreme weather events, such as droughts, floods, and hurricanes, pose serious threats to global economic and social stability. Companies, as key drivers of economic activity, are responsible for reducing their carbon footprints, improving energy efficiency, and advancing sustainable development.
The Climate Governance Barometer (CGB) is the survey analysis developed by the Risk Society and Policy Research Center, National Taiwan University (RSPRC) to illustrate public attitudes toward climate issues in Taiwan. There are two principal reasons for the significance of climate change issues to Taiwan. On the one hand, the increasing frequency of extreme climate events like typhoons and droughts, has caused lots of loss and damage, directly impacting citizens’ daily lives and safety. On the other hand, as one of the world’s most important economies, Taiwan faces the potential challenges of meeting international commitments and reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
In recent years, the assessment of climate risks has had a profound effect on the sustainability of business operations. To address this challenge, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) established the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) in 2015, which issued relevant guidelines in 2017. However, as climate risk issues have become more complex, the TCFD announced its dissolution in 2023, transferring its oversight responsibilities to the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation.
In the first part of this series, it was mentioned that the measures to reduce carbon emission in the petrochemical industry can be summarized in an acronym SCUR which represents 4 words: Save, Capture, Utilization, and Renewable/Recycle. The first two articles in this series introduce Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) and energy saving. In this article the Utilization (CCU) part is discussed. The objective is to introduce a variety of ways carbon dioxide could be used to reduce carbon emission.
In 2023, CPC Corporation（中油）, Taiwan (hereinafter referred to as CPC) planned to initiate a carbon storage experiment in the Tieh–Chen Mountain（鐵砧山）area of Tunghsiao（通宵）Township, Miaoli County. The experiment represents an important step of Taiwan to realize carbon storage. This article was to explain why CPC selected this site for the carbon storage test, and how CPC plans to address social communication around carbon storage.
During the course of the Russia–Ukraine war, which began in 2022, Russia has bombed Ukraine with missiles, destroying Ukraine's electric power infrastructure and causing widespread blackouts in various regions, affecting winter heating supplies, and possibly causing residents to flee or freeze to death. According to reports from Independent (2022) and BBC (2022), Ukrainian officials described Russia's wartime actions as energy genocide.
The Risk Society and Policy Research Center at National Taiwan University has released a report on the third just transition survey, calling for greater attention to two major challenges: net-zero emissions for workers, young people, and disadvantaged groups and the impact of climate change.
In 2022, the Risk Society and Policy Research Center at National Taiwan University initiated the Corporate Climate-Related Financial Disclosure Survey. With Fubon Financial Holdings' continued sponsorship and support, the scope of the survey was expanded in 2023, and the issue was further explored in 2024. On June 5,...
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As the impacts of climate change continually intensify, company stakeholders and investors have increasingly turned their focus toward the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). The Risk Society and Policy Research Center (RSPRC) of National Taiwan University has conducted a survey to investigate this crucial issue. On 23 May, 2023, the "TCFD Survey Report: Challenges of Carbon Intensive Industries in Achieving Net-zero Transition" was published.
Risk Society and Policy Research Center released the "Survey on Awareness of Just Transition of High-carbon- and High-power-consuming Industries in Taiwan"
The first part of the article analyzed the driving force for companies to make TCFD-aligned disclosures, and their climate change perception and policy perception in face of climate change.
The impact of climate change on the ecological environment and human society is now unavoidable. In addition to continuously impairing human health (Ahmad & Hossain, 2015), climate change has indefinable economic costs (Bolton et al., 2020).
On the 30th of November 2023, the Risk Society and Policy Research Center (RSPRC) of National Taiwan University hosted an open forum by Associate Professor Pietro Lanzini from Ca' Foscari University of Venice, Italy. His research interests include consumer behavior and sustainability, with a special focus on mobility, the food sector and spillover-related phenomena. The title of his presentation was "The Electrification of Mobility in Italy: A Commuter-based Perspective."
On 26th of July 2023, the Risk Society and Policy Research Center (RSPRC) of National Taiwan University hosted a lecture by distinguished Professor Andreas Klinke from the Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada. He has been exploring different topics like cosmopolitanism, globalization, risk society, sustainable development, and transnational democracy for years. The captivating lecture was about post-normal politics.
In the beginning, Professor Klinke said we are experiencing epochal changes at all socio-political levels, like the Industrial revolution, predicted by Ulrich Beck. The old and new uncertainties and different sort of risks were inevitably interwoven during the transformation. He then referred to "global socio-material system," by the sociologist John Urry, to describe the inevitable natural-social interrelations between issues and unmet needs. Typical examples were the climate, energy, biological diversity, world economy, and world politics issues.
The COVID-19 pandemic that has swept across the planet in 2020 has reinforced the need for scientists and policymakers to co-develop solutions to tackle future challenges, which is increasingly important as the global community strive toward sustainability goals.
The Risk Society and Policy Research Center (RSPRC) conducted an interview with CWind Taiwan's Deputy General Manager Tom Manning this week to learn more about CWind's experience in developing renewable energy in Taiwan, as well as the opportunities and challenges in Taiwan's renewable energy landscape.
The book launch and forum for the new book, "Climate Change Governance in Asia" was held at the Annual Conference of the Taiwanese Sociology Association on November 29, 2020 at the Department of Sociology, National Taiwan University.
The 3rd International KLASICA Taipei Symposium was organized last month by our center, the Risk Society and Policy Research Center (RSPRC), National Taiwan University, in collaboration with the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) in Germany. The symposium was joined by over 50 participants from 20 countries in the Asia-Pacific, Europe and the Americas, and was held online this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
ENERGY
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- New Global Sustainability Knowledge
At this year's COP28, the Global Stocktake emphasized the need for all countries to triple their installed capacity for renewable energy by 2030. Therefore, Taiwan must adopt more forward-looking strategies and actions to maximize emission reduction efficiencies.
At the turn of the year, this is an important time to review what has been accomplished and built upon our past accomplishments. In 2021, in addition to the global COVID-19 pandemic, climate disasters were also rampant around the world. For example, heat waves occurred in North America; floods raged in Western Europe and Henan, China; and the worst drought in 56 years happened in central and southern Taiwan. The above-mentioned events are confirmed that the climate crisis is imminent. Leaders of various countries have successively announced the carbon neutrality goal and actively formulated a road map for achieving net zero emissions. What progress have those countries made since they declared carbon neutrality goals one year ago?
The theme of this newsletter is about the corporate climate-related financial disclosure, so this OpenEnergy is paired with the topic of corporate climate action tracking. The first target of this article is to track the status of Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) proposed by companies in various countries. S
On the "Hon Hai Tech Day" on October 18, 2021, Hon Hai Technology Group officially unveiled three electric vehicles at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center. This debut has become a milestone for the Hon Hai Technology Group, symbolizing that Hon Hai's corporate map is no longer limited to part manufacturing and OEM but will launch its own electric vehicles under the "Foxtron" brand with affordable prices for everyone.
Since 2016, it has been five years since the RSPRC released the "Taiwan's Energy Situation Review". Through the collection of basic data on Taiwan's energy structure, it provides references for all walks of life and grasps the development of Taiwan's energy situation. The development of the energy situation in 2020 did not continue the transition achievements in energy consumption...
Singapore has been conducting foresight planning for 30 years, and such "long-term planning" has been credited by Singapore's Civil Service head Peter Ong for Singapore's development from a "colonial entrepot with limited industry, and few urban developments" to a "metropolis" (Centre for Strategic Futures, 2015b).
The theme of the third session was "European Union (EU) Social Taxonomy and Sustainability Transition", which was moderated by Sue-Ching Jou, Professor of Geography at the National Taiwan University (NTU). The session began with an introduction by Chien-Hung Tung, Deputy Minister of the Interior. The discussants included Chi-Jui Huang, Professor of Finance and Cooperative Management at NTU and Associate Professor Ping-Lung Hsin, Associate Professor of the Graduate Institute of National Development at NTU.
Since 2016, the Fubon Cultural and Educational Foundation has partnered with the Risk Society and Policy Research Center of the National Taiwan University (hereinafter referred to as NTU RSPRC). Through energy transition projects, they have established a model for collaboration between corporate foundations and academic research centers. Last year, the Fubon Group rebranded the "Fubon Globalization Forum" as the "Fubon Forum on Sustainable Future" and worked with NTU RSPRC to promote Taiwan's social consensus on sustainable development and to connect scientific research and advocacy with respect to international issues. This year, with the theme "Collaboration between Industry and Finance: Bridging the Sustainability Transition Gap," the Fubon Forum on Sustainable Future explored the global issues and social impacts experienced by financial institutions and their related enterprises and industries when addressing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) challenges, reflecting the forum's vision for sustainability.
Session Four with the theme "Multiple Global Crises - Key Analysis of 2023 World Economic Forum" was kicked off with a lecture by Sophie Heading, a representative of the World Economic Forum. Based on the Global Risks Report 23, Sophie discussed the concept of multiple crises and pointed out that current global risks are interconnected. When a set of risks fluctuate simultaneously and spread in various spheres, there will be a cascading effect, triggering multiple crises. Therefore, it is important to understand the trend of the overall structure and how geopolitical and economic conditions drive the occurrence of multiple risks. Sophie stated that due to changes and conflicts in geopolitical dynamics, we may witness rapid outflow of funds and technology in the next two to ten years. In addition, rapid inflation, natural disasters, extreme weather events, and commodity price volatility are also among the top five risks for countries. Sophie also cautioned in the risk report that as global economic dynamics have the potential to catalyze many risk issues, countries need to strengthen regulations and controls to prevent further exacerbation. For example, geopolitical conditions have an impact on debt dynamics; if the global debt burden approaches or even exceeds the global commodity value, it will pose risks such as debt distress and increased capital and financing costs to the economy.
In the second session that immediately followed, the industrial climate risk research team at the Risk Society and Policy Research Center of National Taiwan University (hereinafter referred to as "NTU RSPRC") addressed the key issue of "Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD)"for this forum, and released the "TCFD Survey Report: Challenges of Carbon Intensive Industries in Achieving Net-zero Transition". The survey release was hosted by Kuei-Tien Chou, Director of RSPRC, with the support of Postdoctoral Researcher Ya-Ting Kuo and Assistant Researcher I-Meng Chao who conducted the investigation. Dr. Kuo presented key findings of the survey and Postdoctoral Researcher Mu-Xing Lin joined the final discussion. The survey was conducted jointly by RSPRC, Fubon Financial Holding CO., Ltd., and the Center for Sustainability Science of the Academia Sinica. A total of 900 companies were surveyed from February to April of this year (2023).
Extreme climate changes, the COVID-19 crisis, geopolitical tensions, and global inflation, coupled with the international net-zero carbon emissions trend, have raised questions about the path toward sustainability in Taiwan. The Risk Society and Policy Research Center of National Taiwan University (NTU RSPRC), in collaboration with Fubon Financial Holding CO., Ltd. and Fubon Cultural and Educational Foundation, hosted the 2023 Fubon Forum on Sustainable Future, centered around the theme of "Key Transformations for Taiwan in the Face of Multiple Global Crises". Building upon the backdrop of the Global Risks Report 2023, which was recently released by the World Economic Forum, the forum examined the complex, multiple crises brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, severe climate changes, geopolitical tensions, and global inflation, and explored how Taiwan can rethink its future positioning and build resilience in its society, economy, and energy under the pressures of net-zero transition and climate emergencies.
The afternoon session of the press conference "A Survey on the Awareness of Just Transformation of Taiwan's High Carbon Emission Industries" was moderated by Kuei-Tien Chou, Director of NTU RSPRC, and Jui-Keng Wang, a postdoctoral researcher of NTU RSPRC, reported the important findings of the study.
