“Business can not succeed in societies that fail. This planet will survive only we work together for sustainable development. CDP is regarded as a very influential driver for driving our low-carbon sustainable future. We will be very pleased to see that CDP leads the way for a more sustainable business model.”

From opening remark by J.T. Wang, Chairman of Acer

With the co-operation of CDP, ASrIA and BCSD Taiwan, the first Taiwan CDP launch was organized on October 20, sponsored by Acer Inc. and the Taipei Computer Association. The event was very well attended by more than 180 participants, including members from the corporate sector as well as investors, market regulators, civil society organisations and the media.

The event was chaired by Tessa Tennant, Director and Founder of ASrIA. Opening remarks were made by Ms Tennant, J.T. Wang, Chairman of Acer Group, and a representative of the Taiwan EPA.

Tom Carnac of CDP noted that the CDP is an independent, not-for-profit organization which assembled 385 investors with assets of US$ 57 trillion. This is the sixth year since 2003 that CDP has been launched and this year CDP invited 2500-3000 corporates to fill out its questionnaire. 1550 companies responded, showing that CDP has become a key driver for data disclosure. Tom also highlighted CDP’s new initiatives to have leading companies work with their suppliers to encourage them to return questionnaires and also to strengthen city government engagement with this initiative.

David Sheil of ASrIA explained the findings of the CDP Asia-Ex Japan report. The reports were launched globally starting from September 22. He noted that 33 Taiwanese companies (composed of 50% electronic companies, 25% financial companies and 25% traditional industries) were invited to participate in the regional survey and to fill out the questionnaire.

Taiwan’s electronic sector was the best new performer in the 2008 CDP Asia ex-Japan Report as they had the highest response rate and GHG data disclosure. He noted that Taiwan companies not only responded to the questionnaire but provided high quality data as well, which would be of great value to investors. In general, the three key investment trends, as identified by ASrIA in the Asia ex-Japan Report are:

Niven Huang, rounded off the event by emphasizing the importance and value to Taiwan industry to engage in the CDP process and the hope that more companies would be involved in the coming year.

The event was extremely successful and indicates that Taiwan can play a leading role in carbon management and disclosure in the Asian region.