Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) yesterday became the nation’s first public transport service provider to issue sustainability bonds to fund its green initiatives and social investment projects.
Sustainability bonds refer to financing instruments in which the issuer uses all the funds raised for green initiatives, social investment projects or other related plans. The bonds must be issued based on the Taipei Exchange’s “Rules Governing the Issuance of Sustainability Bonds,” and can be traded on the over-the-counter market.
“The issuance of the sustainability bonds shows our determination to fulfill our responsibilities to the environment, society and corporate governance, as well as our commitment to pursuing the sustainable development of the rail service,” it said in a statement.
Photo: Chen Hsin-yu, Taipei Times
The NT$1 billion (US$35.95 million) sustainable bond issue has a maturity of three years and a fixed annual interest rate of 0.3 percent.
The funds raised through the issuance of the bonds would be used to accelerate the automation of its Yenchao (燕巢) maintenance depot and update the passenger information system at high-speed rail stations, the company said.
The Yenchao project is a green investment plan, as it would prevent and control pollution. Meanwhile, the passenger information system update is a social investment that would integrate the internal broadcast system to provide riders with real-time train schedules, weather forecasts and information on major events and emergencies, it added.
Aftershocks from a magnitude 6.2 earthquake that struck off Yilan County at 3:45pm yesterday could reach a magnitude of 5 to 5.5, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Seismological Center technical officer Chiu Chun-ta (邱俊達) told a news conference that the epicenter of the temblor was more than 100km from Taiwan. Although predicted to measure between magnitude 5 and 5.5, the aftershocks would reach an intensity of 1 on Taiwan’s 7-tier scale, which gauges the actual effect of an earthquake, he said. The earthquake lasted longer in Taipei because the city is in a basin, he said. The quake’s epicenter was about 128.9km east-southeast
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