E.Sun Financial Holding Co (玉山金控) — in keeping with global trends and the goals of the COP26 climate change conference — on April 11 announced that it would phase out its exposure to coal by 2035.
The policy applies to all of E.Sun Financial’s subsidiaries and overseas branches, and encompasses reducing carbon emissions from financial assets, increasing green assets, reducing gray assets in investment and financing, and promoting social energy transformation and global climate goals through the allocation of financial resources.
The Glasgow Climate Pact, agreed to at COP26 last year, is the first UN climate agreement in history that explicitly requires a reduction in the use of coal. Greenhouse gas emissions from burning coal have a significant impact on the climate, and ridding the world of coal is seen as the key to achieving global climate goals.
Photo courtesy of E.Sun Financial Holding Co
E.Sun Financial deals with companies where more than 5 percent of their revenue comes from business activities that involve coal and unconventional oil and gas. The former includes coal-fired power, coal mining and infrastructure, coal trading and coal transport. The latter includes tar sands, shale oil and gas, Arctic oil and gas, ultra-deep-water oil and gas, and liquefied natural gas from unconventional fossil fuels.
Excluding funds earmarked to assist these companies in carbon reduction, E.Sun Financial aims to have no exposure — including investments and financing — to coal and unconventional oil and gas industries by the end of 2035.
Bonds sold to customers that involve companies related to coal and unconventional oil and gas would all be labeled by the end of 2030, and E.Sun Financial would cease to sell them by the end of 2035.
E.Sun Financial president and chief sustainability officer Magi Chen (陳美滿) said in a statement that the company stopped financing coal-fired power plant projects in 2019, and is further committed to phasing out its exposure to the coal and unconventional oil and gas industries.
This is a significant milestone for the company on the road to net zero emissions. E.Sun Financial hopes to leverage the financial sector’s influence to assist the global energy system in phasing out coal.
E.Sun Financial in February obtained an Approved Target Notice from the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), and is the first financial institution in Taiwan and the second in Asia to complete the SBTi target review.
To achieve the SBTi targets, E.Sun Financial has not only gradually changed the policies and procedures of its investment and financing business, it also provides consulting services for the companies it has dealings with on sustainable development and carbon reduction. E.Sun Financial encourages companies to conduct carbon inventories and set carbon reduction targets. Companies that apply for sustainability-linked loans and achieve their carbon reduction targets can also enjoy preferential loan rates.
To achieve the 2050 target of being a “net zero” bank, E.Sun Financial is diligently creating a sustainable operating environment by obtaining green building labels, building solar energy facilities, increasing its proportion of green power purchases and introducing internal carbon pricing. Combining its sustainability and finance expertise, the company is exerting its financial influence to help society accelerate the phasing out of coal. It encourages customers to reduce their carbon footprint and facilitates their transformation.
Moreover, practical approaches include funneling funds into low-carbon and renewable energy industries, issuing carbon-neutral credit cards and supporting sustainable financing for companies. E.Sun Financial is taking planned, systematic, disciplined and concrete actions to mitigate global warming for a “net zero” planet.
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