The Financial Supervisory Commission announced the second edition of the reference guidelines for the recognition of sustainable economic activities, as well as recommendations on carbon reduction transformation plans and related matters Dec. 31, 2024.
According to the FSC, the commission has worked with multiple ministries to revise the guidelines and roll them out, along with associated recommendations to help enterprises and financial institutions identify sustainable economic activities and bolster their communications.
The new guidelines now include the waste removal and resource recycling industry, as well as the agriculture and forestry industry, while also nearly doubling the list of recognized sustainable general economic activities. They also offer a method for calculating the sustainability proportion, allowing financial institutions to judge whether they meet the guidelines’ requirements in the areas of loans, investments, asset management and property insurance.
The guidelines explain that sustainable economic activities must make real contributions to any of six environmental goals: climate change mitigation, climate change adaptation, sustainability and conservation of water and marine resources, transition to a circular economy, pollution prevention and control, and biodiversity conservation and restoration. Further, the activities may not cause major harm to any of the six goals or violate social security laws. If the economic activity of an enterprise only fulfills two of the three conditions, but it has already formulated an improvement plan, it can be called “in transition.”
The FSC’s recommendations enable enterprises to build their own improvement plans and have taken inspiration from international standards and practices. The commission looks forward to seeing these tools help companies enhance their sustainability. (YCH-E)
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