Local manufacturers, especially those in the supply chains of Apple and Google, are seeking new and better ways to offset carbon emissions to comply with stricter regulations on air pollutants. Some companies have set goals to reach net-zero emissions by 2035 or 2050, as the emissions issue is quickly evolving into a trade barrier.
Companies have adopted different approaches to conserve energy and reduce their carbon footprint, such as constructing smart buildings and using lights-out manufacturing, or planting trees to offset carbon emissions. LCD panel suppliers and hardware makers have sought to reduce emissions by streamlining product designs and using fewer components. In the past few years, several companies have signed green energy purchase agreements with private electricity suppliers as part of efforts to fight climate change.
However, those measures have had a limited effect on capturing carbon already released into the atmosphere.
Sinyi Realty’s latest project is turning an island off Malaysia’s Sabah state into a zero-emission summer resort, company founder Chou Chun-chi (周俊吉) told the Chinese-language Business Weekly and CommonWealth Magazine last month. Although the island, which Sinyi bought in 2019 for NT$1.4 billion (US$50.5 million at the current exchange rate), has the capacity for 10 hotels, the developer plans to build only two.
An environmental conservation team was established to plant trees and create environments friendly to algae, coral, seagrass and wetlands plants, Chou said, adding that a sea turtle conservation center would also be created. The island would play a crucial role in the company’s efforts to reach its goal to become carbon neutral by 2030, he said.
Following Sinyi’s move, some local manufacturers have begun scouting for similar areas to capture carbon, as they plan ahead for the coming carbon credit trade. Sinyi is one of few local businesses that have been exploring innovative ways to fight climate change, while most companies are beginners in the field. Many have resorted to buying renewable energy to offset carbon emissions.
For smaller companies, the scarcity of green energy is a major obstacle on the road to reach carbon neutrality. Solar panel installations have lagged behind the government’s expectations due to the COVID-19 pandemic and bureaucracy. By the end of the year, Taiwan’s installed solar energy capacity is expected to reach 7 gigawatts (GW), less than half of the government’s 20GW target by 2025. Most wind energy, generated mostly by offshore wind farms, would not be available until 2025.
Large companies are better prepared and have more resources to address climate change to overcome requirements that businesses achieve certain levels of carbon emissions. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker and a major supplier to Apple, has secured 99 percent of green energy certificates available since the nation’s first green energy trading platform was created last year. The certificates bought by TSMC can be translated into about 600 million units of green power. The chipmaker on Thursday secured 1GW of wind power by signing an agreement with Wpd Taiwan Energy. That is equivalent to about 3.7 billion units of green energy, allowing TSMC to reduce carbon emissions by 1.85 million tonnes per year.
As most local manufacturers are small and medium-sized businesses, they do not have the resources and knowledge to source green energy or carbon credits, not to mention any measures to cope with an imminent carbon border tax by the EU. The government should help them tackle the issue by providing more incentives to promote using green energy and accelerate the formation of a carbon credit trading mechanism.
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