E.Sun Financial Holding Co (玉山金控), one of Asia’s leading financial services organizations, based in Taipei, has joined the RE100 initiative and committed to using 100 percent renewable electricity across its global operations by 2040, the company said on Tuesday.
“We are delighted to welcome E.Sun to RE100. By committing to 100 percent renewable electricity by 2040, E.Sun joins over 300 of the world’s leading businesses committed to driving market change. This sends a powerful message that renewable electricity makes good business sense, and we encourage others to follow,” said Sam Kimmins, head of RE100 at The Climate Group.
To accelerate change toward zero-carbon electricity through the power of finance and investment, RE100 set further criteria within financial sectors, including management of its financed emissions impacts, phasing out financing of coal-powered energy and thermal coal mining, and limiting significant investments in fossil fuels projects.
Photo courtesy of E.Sun Financial Holding Co
RE100 has recognized the need for the financial sector to contribute effectively to the energy transition and to thrive in a future in which carbon emissions are restrained.
“It has been the responsibility and mission of E.Sun to protect this beautiful land since it was founded. Before being approved to become a member of RE100, E.Sun dedicated years of effort to environmental sustainability, including becoming the largest buyer of renewable energy, completing an inventory of carbon emissions from the most crucial investment and loan positions of financial institutions, gradually changing policies and processes for investment and lending, and becoming the first financial institution in Taiwan and second in Asia to pass the review of the Science Based Targets Initiative,” E.Sun Financial president and chief sustainability officer Magi Chen (陳美滿) said.
“E.Sun was the first to commit to phasing out coal-related industries by 2035, and we actively exerted our financial influence by leading the industry in adopting numerous international standards and initiatives. Joining RE100 is an important milestone for E.Sun toward net-zero emissions. In the future, we will continue to guide the net-zero transition of energy systems through financial resources and achieve the world’s common climate goals,” Chen said.
Deeply aware that Taiwanese enterprises are important members of global supply chains, E.Sun extends its influence in sustainability issues through its financial business when facing pressures and challenges to achieve net-zero emissions, it said.
This includes supporting the development of the renewable energy industry through project financing, such as solar power stations, offshore wind farms, onshore wind farms and geothermal energy, the company said.
E.Sun is also the largest issuer of green bonds in Taiwan, it said.
Financial institutions are channeling resources into environmental sustainability and carbon reduction transition projects in the hopes of accelerating the development of renewable energy in Taiwan through the participation of a greater number of enterprises, it said.
E.Sun believes that action brings change, and cooperation allows capabilities to be combined with others to jointly work toward a beautiful homeland with net-zero emissions, it said.
Cairo’s new monorail slices across the city skyline, running above the familiar chaos of blaring horns and aging buses’ exhaust fumes that mark rush hour below. The US$4.5 billion monorail, opened this month, is among Egypt’s most prominent new transport projects, part of a debt-funded infrastructure drive criticized for sapping state finances while bringing limited benefits to most of the country’s 109 million people. “It feels like you’re in a different country,” said Ramy Sayed, a restaurant manager, aboard a driverless Innovia 300 train. “No noise, no traffic, we’re not used to this.” The eastern line runs 56km from the bustling middle-class
Starlux Airlines Co (星宇航空) today unveiled a long-haul network expansion plan at a shareholders’ meeting in Taipei, including direct flights to Barcelona, Spain, and Zurich, Switzerland, as well as a service connecting Taipei, Sydney and New Zealand. Starlux is to become the first Taiwanese carrier to offer non-stop services to the two European cities, while the inaugural oceanic route is expected to expand transit opportunities within the Australia-New Zealand market, Starlux said. Flight services to Chicago, Dallas, Washington and New York are under evaluation, the airline added. Prior to the shareholders’ meeting, the airline earlier this year announced that it would be
Taiwanese firms have increased investment in the Philippines in recent years as Manila’s ties with Washington deepen and global supply chains continue to shift away from China, an expert at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The Philippines had not been among Taiwanese investors’ top choices in Southeast Asia, CIER Taiwan ASEAN Studies Center director Kristy Hsu (徐遵慈) said at a seminar in Taipei. However, Taiwan’s investment in the country has grown significantly since the COVID-19 pandemic, reaching US $257 million last year, a high in recent years, she said. Although Taiwan’s total investment in the Philippines still lags
Taiwanese prosecutors suspect that three people successfully smuggled at least one shipment of Nvidia Corp artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China after first exporting them to Japan, people familiar with the matter said. The trio was detained last week by the Keelung District Prosecutors’ Office for allegedly falsifying documents related to exports of Super Micro Computer Inc servers containing advanced Nvidia chips, which the US has barred from sale to China without a license from Washington. The move marked Taiwan’s first public crackdown on AI chip diversion after years of pressure from the US to take a more active role in curtailing