CRIF Taiwan holds forum on building resilient ESG sustainable industries

CRIF Taiwan 舉辦建構有韌性的ESG永續產業論壇

Taiwan vice premier says there is no time to lose in promoting environmental social governance framework


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The CRIF High Mark Credit Information Services’ Taiwan branch, China Credit Information Service (CRIF Taiwan), held a forum entitled “Building Environment Social Governance (ESG) Sustainable Industries’ Resilience and Market” on Wednesday (Oct. 6) to review the principles of ESG and discuss the future for ESG industries.

At the forum, CRIF Taiwan announced that it has joined Unity Sustainability Services to present the “Mr. ESG Sustainable Supply Chain Platform,” which aims to lay the foundation of an ESG ecosystem that connects Taiwanese industries to international supply chains. The platform will show the ESG information transparency of businesses, their penalty and award records, as well as risk disclosures and ESG scores, so that entities within the ESG ecosystem may be informed when choosing business partners.

While large Taiwanese businesses had published over 600 sustainability reports by the end of 2020, medium and small businesses must also take whatever steps they can to meet ESG standards, CRIF Taiwan General Manager Kuo Hsiao-wei (郭曉葳) said at the forum.

Using CRIF Taiwan as an example, she said that things as trivial as going paperless and digitizing services, using LED lighting and water-saving equipment, recycling, supporting green products, and holding clean-up events all help companies advance towards ESG goals.

Vice Premier Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津), who spoke at the forum via a pre-recorded video, said that there is no time to lose in promoting ESG, as environmental issues will continue to shape global economic development in the next decade.

Shen said that in the past, businesses addressed social and environmental risks through charitable donations, then through corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies. Now, businesses incorporate environmental and social policies as part of their corporate governance principles, and large companies have taken action to promote social responsibility and renewable energy.

In the future, large, public businesses will be required to publish sustainability reports, while these reports will need to highlight third-party certification, Shen added.

Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Tseng Wen-sheng (曾文生) said at the forum that in all the speeches he has given in the past year, mentions of keywords such as gross domestic product (GDP) are extremely low, while keywords such as CSR and ESG have come up very frequently. This means that these issues have become one of the major focuses of the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

He assured businesses that the Taiwanese government will lead everyone in reducing carbon dioxide emissions. However, Taiwan must improve its performance and ensure a smooth transition by forming a system in which large businesses work with smaller businesses and give them a hand.

Tseng added that Taiwan must also figure out how to turn sustainable management information and knowledge into public, shareable resources to complement carbon reduction technology, which would most likely be patented and private.