Recently, companies have been pointing out their environmental, social and governance (ESG) credentials and communicating their ESG standards. Construction companies, where ESG is the main aspiration, have been displaying their standards on signboards.
However, there are no guides for how ESG credentials are presented, so most people are unaware of the advantages of ESG, which is exacerbated by most people being largely indifferent to the initiative.
The most straightforward way to ensure that construction firms make environmental protection a top priority would be for “green building labels” to be awarded for using sustainable building materials. The labels would be reflected in the company’s ESG information.
The Taiwan Green Building Council has investigated waste and carbon emission reduction in the production of green building materials. The results show that, for example, using at least 15 percent recycled materials to produce ceramic tiles would reduce carbon emissions by 60kg per tonne, while replacing cement with coal combustion residuals from power plants to produce green concrete would cut down at least 140kg of carbon emissions per tonne. Green buildings with recycled materials not only raise the circular material use rate, but also lower waste and carbon emissions.
If construction companies use recycled green building materials, they could record the benefits they created to their ESG disclosures, such as pollution reduction, and carbon emissions and raw materials procurement. When financial observers read the disclosure, they would know the company’s actions to fight climate change and take them into account when considering financing.
If the financing benefits were reflected in mortgages, people would better understand the benefits of ESG.
Chen Wen-ching is a director of the Taiwan Green Building Council and a convener of the Taiwan Sustainable Green Construction Union.
Translated by Polly Chiu
A gap appears to be emerging between Washington’s foreign policy elites and the broader American public on how the United States should respond to China’s rise. From my vantage working at a think tank in Washington, DC, and through regular travel around the United States, I increasingly experience two distinct discussions. This divergence — between America’s elite hawkishness and public caution — may become one of the least appreciated and most consequential external factors influencing Taiwan’s security environment in the years ahead. Within the American policy community, the dominant view of China has grown unmistakably tough. Many members of Congress, as
The shifting geopolitical tectonic plates of this year have placed Beijing in a profound strategic dilemma. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) prepares for a high-stakes summit with US President Donald Trump, the traditional power dynamics of the China-Japan-US triangle have been destabilized by the diplomatic success of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in Washington. For the Chinese leadership, the anxiety is two-fold: There is a visceral fear of being encircled by a hardened security alliance, and a secondary risk of being left in a vulnerable position by a transactional deal between Washington and Tokyo that might inadvertently empower Japan
After declaring Iran’s military “gone,” US President Donald Trump appealed to the UK, France, Japan and South Korea — as well as China, Iran’s strategic partner — to send minesweepers and naval forces to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. When allies balked, the request turned into a warning: NATO would face “a very bad” future if it refused. The prevailing wisdom is that Trump faces a credibility problem: having spent years insulting allies, he finds they would not rally when he needs them. That is true, but superficial, as though a structural collapse could be caused by wounded feelings. Something
Former Taipei mayor and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) founding chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was sentenced to 17 years in prison on Thursday, making headlines across major media. However, another case linked to the TPP — the indictment of Chinese immigrant Xu Chunying (徐春鶯) for alleged violations of the Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法) on Tuesday — has also stirred up heated discussions. Born in Shanghai, Xu became a resident of Taiwan through marriage in 1993. Currently the director of the Taiwan New Immigrant Development Association, she was elected to serve as legislator-at-large for the TPP in 2023, but was later charged with involvement
RSS