1 April 2024. Work Better Innovations releases the third and final policy brief on the need for Taiwanese enterprises to adapt to a changing climate to accompany the upcoming Taiwan Business Forum on Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence in Taipei, on 9 April.
Taiwan pledged in late 2022 to reduce the country’s carbon emissions by 24 percent in 2030, compared with 2005, and achieve Net Zero by 2050. In 2023, Taiwan passed the Climate Change Response Act, setting out emission reduction measures to reach Net Zero by investing in renewable energy, based on the principle of a Just Transition.
This policy brief sets out key challenges facing Taiwanese enterprises on issues of sustainability and economy, with a focus on meeting Taiwan’s goal of reaching Net Zero by 2050. It addresses the key climate change issues for Taiwanese enterprises under the three related themes of:
- Net Zero Emissions;
- Renewable Energy;
- Just Transition.
Similar to the context of business and human rights, SMEs need specialised assistance. This
is especially relevant for Taiwan, where SMEs dominate the private economy landscape. In this policy brief, we will also use case studies to highlight the sustainability challenges for businesses and set out some recommendations for Taiwanese enterprises.
It has been a privilege to be part of the process in crafting this policy brief focusing on sustainability and business for Taiwan. It is crucial for the business community to recognize that sustainability is not merely an obligation imposed by external regulators but rather a fundamental responsibility toward society.
– Kwang-Yin Liu, reviewer
Policy Brief No. 3 / 2024 concludes our set of research policy briefings as part of the first Taiwan Business Forum for Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence. The Forum will take place in Taipei on 9 April 2024! Please register for the Forum at https://www.cw.com.tw/feature/event/2024wbi.
After the first two briefs on the corporate responsibility to respect human rights and on leveraging responsible recruitment for sustainable development in Taiwan, this latest brief showcased the ability of the project team to write on diverse topics in an accessible and substantive manner.
We are grateful to the funder and the many individuals whose work brought this research to print. We thank the many members of the WBI project team – Nicholas Haggerty, Wan-Hsiang Hsu and 66 Fu – and the review assistance of Kwang-yin Liu of the Commonwealth Magazine and Prof Yu-Fan Chiu from the Taiwan Project for Business and Human Rights. Thanks photographer Daniel M Shih for the beautiful cover image.
Titled “Sustainability in Action: Strategies for Taiwanese Enterprises in a Changing Climate,” this is the third publication of WBI’s collaboration with the Taiwan Project for Business and Human Rights.
To see our other publications, please visit here.
