The workshop, held on January 7, 2023, was organized by four major academic groups of NCCU College of Law those are “Master of Laws Program for Executives”, “Center for Aging Law”, “Center for Multiculturalism and Law” and “Financial Innovation and Technological Evolution Center (FINTEC)”. China Steel Corporation (CSC) and E.Sun Bank also attended the workshop to exchange thoughts about the Impact and Response of the Draft Version of the Climate Change Response Act ”. The current discussion does not address the gap between the vision of the Act and the real word practice caused by the structure and characteristics of the industries in our country. The workshop, therefore, aims to ignite an in-depth conversation between academic groups and industry professionals and to put forward policy recommendations.
The event was opened and introduced by Dr. Chin-Wen Wu, Associate Professor of NCCU College of Law. Dr. Wu shared the curriculum of “Environment, social and governance: the legal challenge of ESG” of “Master of Laws Program for Executives” at NCCU College of Law. Director Yi-Min Wu, head of Environmental Protect Department of China Steel Corporation (CSC), introduced how CSC had been involved to support the formulation of relevant laws and policies. CSC stepped in at the early stage of the development of “Greenhouse Gas Reduction and Management Act (GHG Management Act)” in 2014. Carbon trading was used as a carbon pricing mechanism back in 2015, but so far, carbon trading has not yet been implemented. The amendment includes a carbon fee levied based on emissions rather than on the raw materials that emit carbon. Wu’s concern is the higher management cost caused by complicated efforts of carbon emission verification associated with the new mechanism.
Dr. Te-Fang Chu, Professor of NCCU College of Law and Dr. Cheng-Yun Tsang, Associate Professor of NCCU College of Law raised questions to understand more about related business practices. Senior officers from Corporate Planning Division, Legal Department, and Environmental Protection Department of CSC shared the following key accomplishments:
- CSC has implemented carbon footprint verification since 2004 and conducted as well as issued verification statements by independent 3rd parties with high credibility. The existing database will be transformed into intelligence modelling to lower the verification cost.
- Aspiring to be a sustainable growth enterprise and to achieve Taiwan 2050 net-zero, CSC has firm commitments to carbon reduction by targeting short-term and mid-term goals, to green energy, to smart innovation such as hydrogen energy smelting process for production, to the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosure (TCFD), to greenery and biodiversity.
- For social participation, as a member of the community, CSC has introduced the urban sewage reclaimed water project, continuously moved towards diversification of water sources with the expectation of reducing new water consumption, assisted in the installation of electrical equipment in local schools of Kaohsiung, subsidized for replacing appliances with energy-saving alternatives, developed “Steel Slag Environmental Education Center” to promote circular economy.
Regarding communication between government authorities and stakeholders in the process of amending the law, the officers from CSC said the dialogues are ongoing and smooth. However, there may still be some unsettled or uncovered issues, and an unreasonable situation may happen. That’s because the law usually authorizes the administrative authorities to issue an order, even sometimes in the form of blank authorization, in our country. They suggest adapting the principle of legal clarity like the EU to make the legal regulations clear and specific to minimize businesses' uncertainty. Mr. Yuan-Huai Chu, Senior Manager of E.Sun bank, shared in the group the strategy of green finance of the bank.
Through the discussion between academic groups and industry professionals, with CSC’s experience sharing, we are moving to figure out more practical ways to respond to the climate change challenge. This workshop is a good start for further dialogues and our joint efforts of initiatives.
Through the discussion between academic groups and industry professionals, with CSC’s experience sharing, we are moving to figure out more practical ways to respond to the climate change challenge. This workshop is a good start for further dialogues and our joint efforts of initiatives.
