From Commitment to Implementation
The outbreak of the Russo-Ukrainian war in 2022 led to soaring global energy prices and inflation, testing the wisdom and determination of all parties in pursuing balanced ESG development. The Egypt-hosted United Nations Climate Conference COP27 set the theme of 'From Commitment to Implementation', with the slogan 'Together for implementation' visible in four locations, reflecting the phenomenon of empty promises without corresponding actions.
Since setting the goal of becoming a net-zero emissions bank by 2050, E.SUN has been actively promoting various carbon reduction initiatives, from the management team's personal commitment to the implementation in daily work. We are gradually realizing our net-zero transformation goals in every aspect of the enterprise. Compared to the base year (2020), we achieved a 10% reduction in Scope 1&2 carbon emissions in 2022. Introduced carbon pricing in investment and lending businesses, and integrated TCFD & TNFD frameworks to publish climate and natural environment reports, receiving high recognition from the TNFD organization and making steady progress towards our ambitious goals.
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. The key to fulfilling our commitments lies in execution. E.SUN team is committed to advancing towards the three major mountains of 'integrated performance, corporate social responsibility, and sustainable development'. In the process of implementing our goals, we also continuously refine ourselves. In addition to net-zero targets, E.SUN also responds to global biodiversity targets, referring to Taiwan's 'forest bird species' and 'agricultural land bird species' national indicators, striving to promote natural growth recovery before 2030 and realizing the vision of a beautiful homeland.
People-oriented, Sowing the Seeds of Hope
In 2023, E.SUN invited Amy Edmondson, a top-ranked global management thinker from Thinkers50, to cultivate more leaders with empathy, understanding, and curiosity, encouraging employees to speak up about potential issues and create a resilient organization that can overcome challenges in a changing environment.
Empathy, understanding, and curiosity are also the elements that E.SUN values in its people-oriented approach. For example, in promoting inclusive finance, we first understand the pain points of vulnerable groups such as the elderly, rural areas, and low-income populations in financial services. We actively develop innovative finance and collaborate with cross-industry partners to provide humanized financial services. Specific actions include our proactive care for the disadvantaged, sharing microinsurance protection concepts and assisting the public in insurance investments in rural areas, providing basic personal insurance for economically disadvantaged and specific ethnic groups; and cooperating with medical institutions to establish dementia-specific and simulation education training, enhancing empathy and understanding of dementia patients and providing empathetic financial services, realizing the ideal of inclusive finance.
To sow more seeds of hope and sustainable energy, E.SUN has integrated ESG finance practices into the education and training of its internal staff at all levels. We have also pioneered the Sustainable Finance Management Certificate program, inviting external professional lecturers to conduct 40 hours of on-the-job training in sustainable finance. Externally, we provide practical experience sharing, helping students from over 5 universities and colleges gain a better understanding of corporate sustainability challenges and practical experience. We firmly believe that the future financial talent not only needs to be proficient in financial expertise but also equipped with sustainable literacy to lead the financial industry with a long-term perspective and a more responsible civic spirit that influences industrial development.
Financial Well-being, Sustainable Future
Since ancient times, finance has played a crucial role in the development of civilization, as it enables the transfer of resources across time, the pooling of resources, and the diversification of risks. E.SUN firmly believes that finance will be a key driver of global sustainable development. Therefore, E.SUN is committed to helping businesses manage emerging risks and has called on over 130 companies to join the sustainable initiative for two consecutive years, jointly addressing international carbon taxes, green supply chain requirements, and implementing various ESG actions. We hope that more businesses will actively participate in the movement, just as President Tsai encouraged, 'Let us work together to turn the challenges of transformation into opportunities, allowing our industries to have better development and stronger competitiveness.
Thanks to past efforts, E.SUN has joined the Sustainable Finance Frontiers Alliance under the Financial Supervisory Commission's call, pledging to take more proactive actions on five major issues: green procurement, investment and financing agreements, information disclosure, assistance and promotion, and international docking. E.SUN also serves as the convener of the policy and guidance group in the Financial Zero Emissions Working Platform, assisting Taiwan's financial industry in examining the financial carbon emissions status, setting zero-emission targets, and promoting more effective corporate attention to sustainability issues and accelerating capital investment in transformation projects through the Financial Zero Emissions Platform.
Offering the World a Better Taiwan
Offering Asia a Better E.SUN
As the President mentioned in the Double Ten Day speech, 'Offering the World a Better Taiwan' can be achieved through self-strengthening and international cooperation, and can lead to regional peace and stability. 'Offering Asia a Better E.SUN' aims to connect more businesses through E.SUN's efforts to gradually become a distinctive benchmark enterprise in Asia while enhancing the sustainable industrial competitiveness of Taiwan's small and medium-sized enterprises, ultimately making Taiwan more prosperous and powerful.
For others, it might be a great dream for a single enterprise to help the whole country become more prosperous and powerful. However, E.SUN was founded with the ambition to become a world-class bank, guiding generations of E.SUN members like the North Star, filling us with passion and hope, and gathering more people to pursue this dream bravely. Now we are sharing this great dream with more enterprises, looking forward to having more like-minded partners join us, and striving together for our ideal homeland.
