〔Event Summary〕The first Asia-Pacific Forum and Exposition for Sustainability

By Emily Wang, Xin-En Wu

　　The first Asia-Pacific Forum and Exposition for Sustainability was launched at the World Trade Center Exhibition and Convention Center on August 12 and invited Vice President Chingte Lai, Deputy Minister of Ministry Vincent Tseng, Ambassador Jarden Kephas of the Republic of Nauru, Australian Office in Taipei, Bureau Français de Taipei, Auditor General of the Audit Department of the Inspection Commission, Director of the Construction Department of the Ministry of the Interior, Director of the Meteorological Bureau of the Ministry of Communications, Chein Tai, Vice Mayor of Tainan City Government, representatives of Major County and City, and important representatives of enterprises and academic circles.

　　Ambassador Eugene Chien said that in the past two years, even if Taiwan has been affected by the pandemic, war, and inflation in the world, Taiwan has still achieved good economic results. The efforts that Taiwan's people put into sustainable development are the driving force and an important encouragement for the event.

　　More than 130 exhibitors, 15 government authorizations, 40 enterprises, 23 universities, and NGOs participating. Chien believes that sustainability lies in government policies, local governance, and most importantly in business management and teaching policies of universities.

　　Combined with the goals of the UN SDGs, sustainability is revealed in life rather than just an abstract concept. Chien indicated that the event has four highlights (expo/forum/summit/initiative), and the fifth highlight is that the world is moving forward and Taiwan will never be left behind.

　　Vice President Lai praised the organizer for their commitment to the positive actions of the government, universities, enterprises, and society, and integrated the United Nations SDGs into the business strategy of enterprises to help the government enhance sustainable development so that Taiwan can go further towards the sustainable goal.

　　The government announced the net zero roadmap this year, the government will also invest 900 billion TWD regarding the sustainable net zero target execution by 2030, hoping that all of the related stakeholders will be more determined to achieve the sustainable goal in the future. Make Taiwan a model of net zero transformation worldwide.

Buddha's Light International Association Achieve sustainability with vegetable food and tree planting

　　Fo Guang Shan has been concerned about global climate change for a long time, and also enthusiastically participated in the exposition. Xin Bao, its abbot and currently the president of the Buddha's Light International Association (BLIA), Board of Directors of Headquarters, said that Fo Guang Shan launched several projects such as the "rEcovery vegetables together", "T-Earth tree planting project", and the "VEGERUN Recover" marathon to practice the concept of "environmental protection and heart protection" which has been initiated by master Hsing Yun many years ago.

　　Wei-Jei Hu, director of the BLIA, who has participated in the "World Climate Change Conference" many times, indicated that the main cause of more than 80% deforestation in the Amazon region is the livestock industry raising beef cattle. According to the United Nations IPCC, reducing the demand for meat and even more actively choosing vegetarian food will help directly reduce deforestation and curb greenhouse gas emissions. BLIA actively promoting of the "Vegetable Food A Plan" is consistent with such a thesis, which was also recognized by the mayor and even the head of state during the summit. Hu also said that the "T-Earth tree planting plan" shares the same vision of biodiversity as the "World Climate Change Conference". Fo Guang Shan also manages more than 100 hectares of land planted with trees, and welcomes companies participating in carbon reduction and coexisting with each other.

　　From the promotion of eating vegetables to the evaluation of vegetable food, Dai Qing-Hua, CEO of iPure Green, said that the promotion of low-carbon diets by establishing a "Vegetable Michelin" mechanism so that more people can change their daily diets and reduce climate change together. BLIA is joining the SBT initiative as well, by formulating the direction and strategy of carbon reduction to actively achieve the goal of carbon emissions by 2030.

Tzu Chi Committed to promoting sustainable by "disaster prevention action"

　　Tzu Chi Foundation, which actively responds to the United Nations Sustainable Development of ESG, was awarded two gold and one silver awards in the "Taiwan Sustainable Action Award(TSAA)" at the expo. Given its long-term efforts in disaster prevention, sustainability, cooperation, environmental protection, and charitable actions, Tzu Chi Foundation has achieved resounding results in youth public welfare and charitable actions in recent years.

　　Po-Wen Yen, CEO of Taiwan Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation, indicated that Tzu Chi has held a "Youth Public Welfare Practice Project" and the "Compassion Science and Technology Creative Competition" in recent years, providing the selected teams a million prize funding and hoping to become a platform to encourage the youth participating the charitable action. Over the past five years, Tzu Chi has cultivated a self-reliant social enterprise team successfully.

　　Yen also mentioned that the impact of unpredictable extreme climate disasters is increasing. In order to strengthen the people's ability to prevent disasters independently, 1,200 disaster preparedness personnel of Tzu Chi have been trained through proper courses certified by the government. The purpose of the training is to elevate the self-help concept to a higher level to assist the community in executing the prevention work when encountering disaster. It has been considered one of Taiwan's important roles in disaster prevention in the future.

　　Tzu Chi has been dedicated to environmental recycling for more than 30 years and plans to implement the environmental protection "one-stop" process actively. Yen points out that processing the PET bottles into plastic pellets and then spinning them into recycled yarns, making polyester fiber clothes, hats, blankets, etc., shows the concept of "turning waste into gold, and turning gold into love". Efforts to be put by Tzu Chi is the best demonstration of moving towards sustainability.

Yen further indicated that the Board of Directors of Tzu Chi has committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2050. Tzu Chi will complete the inventory of carbon footprint verification by the end of November this year, and make the SBT initiative target to reduce carbon release gradually with negative emissions technologies, to achieve the goal of net zero.

Gugo Dedicating in installing supply chain of decarbonization

　　To be the first restaurant in Taiwan to achieve carbon neutrality successfully – "Tai Da Table" founded by Gugo Enterprise, In-Shun Tseng, chairman of Gugo Enterprise said that Tai Da Table has dedicated to "Zero-Carbon Kitchens", "Green Menus", and the connection of carbon-neutral circular economy supply chain.

　　The ingredients used in Tai Da Table have taken into account the requirements of "carbon footprint" to match the need for green kitchen and green menu. To achieve the goal of a carbon-emission restaurant, the kitchen waste is converted into fertilizer and feed. The utilization of ecological recycling resources helps in reducing the cost of fertilizer and feed for farmers and fishermen and making Tai Da Table a sustainable operating restaurant.

　　During the expo, lots of people observed an unmanned food delivery truck walking back and forth between the booth and the VIP room several times to establish the path information. The delivery truck could be considered as a group effort of Tai Da Table collaborating with several parties such as the College of Engineering, National Taiwan University, First International Computer, Mitsubishi Electric, etc. Tseng believes the combination of food and technology is an important part of the carbon-neutral process.

　　Tseng also looks forward to building decarbonized delivering services by using "green vehicles" and invites more catering operators to work together towards the net-zero goal.

Deloitte Early response to sustainability helps improving overall operational performance

　　Deloitte, which is an international professional risk management company has been paying attention to sustainability and carbon reduction in an early stage.

　　Accountant Joe Chen, who is currently the responsible person of the Sustainability Services Group of Deloitte, said that the government's goal of promoting the net-zero path by using the approach of "big companies lead small ones". However, its common sense that the resources of the market are limited. Chen observed all the way and agreed that there were companies that responded early. Whether it is in terms of process, technology, or management innovation, the company's overall operational performance is better.

　　Deloitte has initiated several projects for sustainability, such as cooperating with the Deloitte Global World Class Initiative and the UN SDGs, to jointly provide more educational resources and development opportunities for rural children and resource-poor groups. The promotion of the company's sustainability orientation is not only the pursuit of external sustainability but also the sustainability of internal life. Chen explained that Deloitte established a sustainable development service team this year, and also hired a Chief Sustainability Officer, especially emphasizing the work-life balance of internal colleagues, because only people who handle it well can better implement and promote corporate goals. It's also a display of sustainability.

　　Deloitte specially arranged for sustainability experts to provide enterprises with one-on-one in-depth consultation services of "E-Body Health Check", so that enterprises can understand their own sustainability progress and status, and provide a complete carbon reduction procedure.