Fri, May 15, 2026 page4

• Groups urge strict climate evaluation

  INSUFFICIENT ACTION: Some of the companies that won climate-related awards have increased their coal use and are behind the government’s carbon reduction timeline

  • By Esme Yeh / Staff reporter
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  At least six of the 38 major carbon emitters in Taiwan that won sustainability awards lack a net zero pledge, environmental groups said yesterday, urging stricter evaluation mechanisms to prevent “greenwashing.”

  The Green Citizens’ Action Alliance and the Taiwan Climate Action Network published a report examining the sustainability performance of the companies that won a prestigious local sustainability award last year. The four major awards include the National Sustainable Development Awards, the Taiwan Corporate Sustainability Awards (TCSA), the CommonWealth Magazine’s Excellence in Corporate Social Responsibility Awards and the Global Views ESG (environmental, social and governance) Awards.

  The major carbon emitters in Taiwan can be divided into two main categories: semiconductors and manufacturing, alliance vice secretary-general Tseng Hung-wen (曾虹文) said.

  

  Members of the Green Citizens’ Action Alliance and Taiwan Climate Action Network host a news conference in Taipei yesterday.

  Photo courtesy of the Green Citizens’ Action Alliance

  Semiconductor companies are energy-heavy users, and are expected to boost their energy performance or renewable use, while the manufacturing sector are considered “hard-to-abate” industries due to their coal reliance, she said.

  About half of domestic carbon emissions are produced by hard-to-abate industries — such as steel, petrochemical and cement — and their major emitters account for 80 percent of total emissions, Tseng said.

  Taiwan’s overall carbon reduction progress would be hampered if the energy reduction of those major emitters are insufficient, she added.

  Of the 38 award-winning semiconductor or manufacturing major emitters, 36 won the TCSA last year, but six of them have yet to declare a net zero pledge and 28 are not yet aligned with the government’s target of increasing green power generation to 30 percent of all power generation by 2030, Tseng said.

  The steel, petrochemical and cement industries collectively make up 90 percent of coal use in Taiwan, she said.

  Nine of the 36 TCSA-winning emitters are coal users, but eight of them have yet to set a coal phaseout timeline, and five have increased their coal use, the alliance secretary-general said.

  For example, Far Eastern New Century Corp (遠東新世紀) won the TCSA’s Climate Leader Award despite increased coal use, Tseng said, adding that the company had a fatal occupational accident last year.

  Alliance researcher Chang Chao (張趙) said up to 40 percent of last year’s 93 TCSA-winning manufacturers had labor violations.

  Three of them — China Steel Corp, CPC Corp, Taiwan, and Teco Electric and Machinery Co — had fatal occupational accidents in 2024, he said.

  Legal compliance should be a basic requirement in evaluating corporate sustainability performance, Chang said.

  Companies with major environmental or labor violations, such as fatal occupational accidents, should not be a candidate for sustainability awards, he said.

  Taiwan Climate Action Network Research Center director Chao Chia-wei (趙家緯) said the 38 award-winning major emitters account for 20 percent of emissions in Taiwan.

  Nearly 70 percent of the award-winning semiconductor major emitters’ carbon reduction targets fell behind the government’s carbon reduction timeline, he said.

  Award-giving units should set stricter criteria for evaluating climate performance of such major emitters, Chao said.
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