Taiwan will hold its nine-in-one local elections in the second half of this year. At a time when the restructuring of global industrial supply chains is reshaping Taiwan's internal regional balance and generating increasingly complex challenges in climate and energy governance, local governments and county and municipal leadership candidates alike will face the growing demands of net-zero carbon governance.

Taiwan currently faces daunting challenges amid the evolving global political–economic landscape and the demands posed by low-carbon transition. In 2025, the Risk Society and Policy Research Center at National Taiwan University conducted the Fourth Corporate Sustainability Disclosure Readiness Survey. Building on the Climate-related Financial Disclosures corporate survey framework applied over the past three years, the scope of this latest survey was further expanded to include aspects such as climate disclosure, labor rights, and human rights due diligence, with the aim of examining the sustainability disclosure practices and readiness of companies following the announcement of the carbon fee policies. We hereby invite all stakeholders to review the survey findings and jointly drive Taiwan's progress toward a transition to sustainability that is equitable and resilient.

Since the adoption of the Paris Agreement in 2015, Taiwan has implemented the Greenhouse Gas Reduction and Management Act (currently, the Climate Change Response Act) and announced the ''First Batch of Emission Sources Required to Report and Register Greenhouse Gas Emissions.''

Since 2017, the Risk Society and Policy Research Center at National Taiwan University has continuously monitored Taiwan's top ten greenhouse gas (GHG)-emitting enterprises. Beginning in 2019, the Center has regularly published the "Tracking Corporate Climate Action" feature, tracking emission changes among Taiwan's high-carbon industries and enterprises.  As the feature enters its seventh year in 2025, we continue to update data on GHG emissions from major emitters required to conduct inventory and registration, as announced by the Ministry of Environment (for 2023). 

Since 2023, the Risk Society and Policy Research Center (RSPRC), National Taiwan University (NTU), has conducted an annual stratified-sample survey examining climate-related financial disclosures among Taiwanese enterprises with annual revenues exceeding NT$100 million.

The Risk Society and Policy Research Center (RSPRC) of National Taiwan University (NTU) has been conducting corporate climate-related financial disclosure surveys since 2022, with each successive survey enhancing our understanding of related topics.

National Taiwan University's Risk Society and Policy Research Center (RSPRC) has been monitoring Taiwan's top 10 greenhouse gas-emitting companies since 2017. The center published the first edition of the "Corporate Climate Action Tracker" report in 2019 to identify Taiwan's leading industries and corporations by their greenhouse gas emissions.

The inauguration of the new government marks the commencement of a novel phase in the net-zero transition of Taiwan. In 2024, following the inauguration of the new administration, the President of Taiwan, Lai Ching-te issued a proclamation marking the occasion of Earth Day. In this address, he unveiled a new initiative to advance a second energy transition, articulating three key tenets: the diversification of green energy sources, the implementation of in-depth energy conservation strategies, and the development of advanced energy storage technologies.

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.

Cities, while occupying only 3% of Earth’s land area, host over half the global population, and generate 80% of global gross domestic product (GDP). However, they also account for two-thirds of global energy consumption and over 70% of annual greenhouse gas emissions. These figures highlight cities’ dominant role in global energy consumption and carbon emissions, revealing that high-density populations and economic activity in cities not only strain limited energy resources but also underscore their critical role and responsibilities in responding to climate change.

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.

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 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,...

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.