Taishin calls From Zero to Hero winning 2 Taiwan Sustainable Investments Awards
The Taiwan Sustainable Investments Awards, hosted by the Taiwan Institute for Sustainable Energy, announced and presented the awards to the winners today. Taishin FHC, a first-time nominee this year, won an excellence award in the Institutional Influences - FHC category and a bronze award in the Case Influences - Sustainability Themed Investments. The awards clearly reflected industry recognition for Taishin's effort in making the idea of sustainability part of its core businesses. Taishin FHC CIO Eric Chien and Taishin SITE President Chu-Chun Yeh received the awards on behalf of Taishin FHC. The arrangement embodied sustainable management planning in the group and the subsidiaries' commitment to the implementation.
Taishin FHC CIO Eric Chien spoke on Taishin FHC's dedication to sustainability and the focus on climate change issues. In addition to becoming one of the founding members of the Taiwan Alliance for Net Zero Emission in 2021, Taishin established "conscientious and sustainable green lifestyles" as the sustainability theme at its 30th anniversary in 2022. Taishin calls for everyone to join the From Zero to Hero campaign and encourages all to join the fight to avert the climate crisis. Taishin's active efforts in the area include obtaining approval for SBTi targets in 2022 and setting investment targets for reduction above the 2°C recommendation. Having set the SBTi targets for reduction, Taishin makes plans to reduce emissions every year with the aim to guiding companies in which Taishin invests to adopt carbon reduction and transition and reduce the impacts of transition risk. Meanwhile, Taishin has added ESG risk scores to the investment process, and perform qualitative assessments of investment projects in order to strengthen investment assessment mechanisms and achieve consistent returns.
According to Taishin SITE President Chu-Chun Yeh, ESG has provided new opportunities for balancing environmental sustainability and corporate sustainability in recent years. Large organizations or international benchmark indexes now require their investment targets to meet ESG criteria. As part of the commitment to promote the development of sustainable investment products, Taishin SITE issued a bond fund, Taishin ESG EM Bond Fund (this fund invests a sizable percentage in non-investment grade, high-risk bonds and the dividend may come from the principal), and an equity fund, Taishin ESG Global Environmental Growth Equity Fund, in 2021. The funds provide ongoing investment opportunities for investors and supports sustainability action. In particular, the Taishin ESG EM Bond Fund is the largest investment grade global EM bond fund in Taiwan as of May 2023. It is a benchmark for funds in the same category.
To facilitate sustainable investing in Taiwan, Taishin FHC co-organized the 2023 Taiwan Sustainable Investments Forum with the Taiwan Institute for Sustainable Energy on June 30. The theme was "Transition, Transparency, Integrity", and the forum welcomed guests from the government, industries, and academia. Dr. Li Chen-Yu, Taishin FHC Chief Economist and Chief Sustainability Officer, was invited to speak on Sustainable Investing in Practice and Trends. The keynote speech provided an insight into global trends in sustainable investing and shared case studies from around the world. It also led forum participants to explore possible forms of transaction for Taiwan's carbon market.
Taishin FHC thinks no one is an outsider when it comes to climate issues and believes everyone can go from Zero to Hero and take part in reverting the climate crisis. Going forward, Taishin, as a financial institution and an intelligent partner in sustainability, continues to play a key role in guiding capital flows and support businesses in transition to sustainability and accelerated net zero.