All listed firms in Taiwan are required to file a sustainability report this year and complete the disclosure by the end of August to showcase their dedication to environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles, according to the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC).
Listed companies with a paid-in capital of less than NT$2 billion (US$610.8 million) are required to prepare a sustainability report for last year starting from this year, the commission said. Firms with larger capital already did so last year, it added.
As of August last year, 1,020 firms listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) or the Taipei Exchange had filed the report for the previous year, constituting 56 percent of the total, data published on the commission’s Web site showed.
Photo: Carlos Garcia, Reuters
That includes 578 mandatory and 442 voluntary submissions, the commission said. Among them, 613 companies obtained third-party assurance in filing their report, it added.
To assist companies in preparing the report, the TWSE has included a sustainability report generation function on its ESG digital platform, which went online on May 6 last year.
After several listed companies were invited to conduct trial generation, the exchange would formally launch the function this month after system adjustments based on the companies’ feedback.
However, the commission reminded listed companies to improve the quality of their sustainability information and avoid greenwashing and untrue statements, which would reduce public trust and affect market competitiveness, it said.
A sustainability report contains qualitative and quantitative information on listed firms’ ESG metrics and insights into their sustainability strategy, goals and initiatives, Taipei-based public relations firm IR Trust Corp (笠信) said.
Firms that fail to file the sustainability report would have difficulty securing bank financing or becoming components of index funds in the future, as banks and fund houses support ESG practices, IR Trust vice president Sandy Cheng (鄭友慈) said last month.
Costs for preparing sustainability report have become more reasonable —from NT$4 million two to three years ago to NT$600,000 these days, Cheng said.
Still, non-tech firms are less ready for the sustainable development trends and in great need of ESG consultancy, she said.
Elon Musk’s lieutenants have reached out to chip industry suppliers, including Applied Materials Inc, Tokyo Electron Ltd and Lam Research Corp, for his envisioned Terafab, early steps in an audacious and likely arduous attempt to break into the production of cutting-edge chips. Staff working for the joint venture between Tesla Inc and Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) have sought price quotes and delivery times for an array of chipmaking gear, people familiar with the matter said. In past weeks, they’ve contacted makers of photomasks, substrates, etchers, depositors, cleaning devices, testers and other tools, according to the people, who asked not to
Taichung reported the steepest fall in completed home prices among the six special municipalities in the first quarter of this year, data compiled by Taiwan Realty Co (台灣房屋) showed yesterday. From January through last month, the average transaction price for completed homes in Taichung fell 8 percent from a year earlier to NT$299,000 (US$9,483) per ping (3.3m²), said Taiwan Realty, which compiled the data based on the government’s price registration platform. The decline could be attributed to many home buyers choosing relatively affordable used homes to live in themselves, instead of newly built homes in the city’s prime property market, Taiwan Realty
The government yesterday approved applications by Alphabet Inc’s Google to invest NT$27.08 billion (US$859.98 million) in Taiwan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement. The Department of Investment Review approved two investments proposed by Google, with much of the funds to be used for data processing and electronic information supply services, as well as inventory procurement businesses in the semiconductor field, the ministry said. It marks the second consecutive year that Google has applied to increase its investment in Taiwan. Google plans to infuse NT$25.34 billion into Charter Investments Ltd (特許投資顧問) through its Singapore-based subsidiary Fructan Holdings Singapore Pte Ltd, and
JET JUICE: The war on Iran’s secondary effects have seen fuel prices skyrocket, knocking flight schedules down to earth in return as airlines struggle with costs Airline passengers should brace for more irritation in the next few months as carriers worldwide cancel flights and ground planes to cope with stratospheric increases in jet-fuel prices. Dutch flag carrier KLM is the latest company to cut its schedule, saying on Thursday that it would scrap 80 return flights at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport in the coming month. That puts it in the same league as United Airlines Holdings Inc, Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd, which have all pruned itineraries to mitigate costs. Global capacity for next month has been reduced by about 3 percentage points, with all
RSS