BCSD Taiwan: Business Resilience Forum promotes sustainable finance and industry collaboration and showcases first implementation of Circular Transition Indicators (CTI) in Taiwan, China

Taipei, 27 April 2023: The Taiwan Business Council for Sustainable Development (BCSD Taiwan) and Chinese National Association of Industry and Commerce in Taiwan (CNAIC) recently co-hosted the “Business Resilience & Taiwan Competitiveness” forum, bringing together more than 200 guests with more than half of them being business operators or middle-to-high-level executives. The forum aimed to promote sustainable initiatives and foster engagement between the financial industry and various industries.

The theme of the forum, “1.5°C Climate Action Declaration x Taiwan Sustainable Finance Platform 2.0”, showcased the collaborative sustainable initiatives of the two organizations., highlighting the importance of addressing climate change, reducing carbon emissions, fostering nature and circularity, and promoting sustainable finance.

CNAIC Chairman Thomas Wu and BCSD Taiwan Chairman Johnny Shih gave opening remarks. Thomas Wu also called on companies to pay attention to the international trend of decarbonization and carbon pricing, and to take early action to implement strategies. Johnny Shih, who is also the chairman of ASUS, mentioned that ASUS has used the Circular Transition Indicators (CTI) framework by WBCSD to assess the circularity of their products, identify and test improvements the weakness of product circulation. By using CTI and keeping sustainability at the core of product design, ASUS saw the circularity of their products increase by about 30%.

Keynote speaker Joe Phelan, Asia Pacific Executive Director at WBCSD, inspired the audience to accelerate the necessary transformation of businesses and value chains to limit the impact of the climate emergency, preserve nature and tackle inequality.

The forum included two panel discussions that focused on net-zero transition, contribution to nature-positive outcomes and transition to a circular economy. Speakers shared their experiences of transitions in their companies and how these actions were appreciated by clients and consumers, making the world a better place.

At the circular economy panel, ASUS CSO Tzer-Shin Wu shared how the multinational computer hardware and consumer electronics company had implemented the CTI framework into practice, upon an introduction by BCSD Taiwan. During the implementation, they found that CTI was the best data-based measurement tool to help ASUS engage with business teams and supply chains. Moreover, CTI helped ASUS find the most suitable action plan and helped establish a more efficient use of resources to respond to the “Design Thinking” culture in ASUS. ASUS will keep working with BCSD Taiwan and WBCSD, compiling the first CTI case study in East Asia, and will share their implementation experience soon.

Another focus of the forum was the Taiwan Sustainable Finance Platform, established by BCSD Taiwan at the end of 2020 with the support of HSBC, Bank SinoPac and Nanshan Life Insurance, which aims to expand the influence of sustainable finance initiatives by creating an engagement area for the financial industry over the next three years. BCSD Taiwan Secretary-General Tony Mo stated that the platform will host workshops on five types of WBCSD sustainable management tools in 2023, assisting companies to develop sustainability skills.