In March this year, the Taiwan government officially issued the "Net Zero Emissions Pathway," announcing that Taiwan has officially embarked on the path of net zero transformation. It specifically stipulates that by 2050, all new buildings and more than 85% of existing buildings must achieve the "near-zero carbon building target." Driven by international trends and domestic regulations, the net zero target and transformation strategy of the construction industry are imminent.
To this end, CSRone Sustainability Think Tank, together with the Taiwan Green Leaders Association, Business Council for Sustainability Development (BCSD) and other organizations, focused on the transformation of the construction industry and energy-saving solutions, and jointly held the first "2022 Asia Low Carbon Building Forum" on December 13 (Tuesday). More than 100 key leaders of the construction-related industries attended the forum, and experts from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and other countries gathered to discuss low-carbon and net-zero acceleration solutions, laying the foundation for Asia-Pacific sustainability for Taiwan's low-carbon building industry.
The "Global Construction Industry Carbon Emissions Summary" was published at COP27, which just ended in November this year. It mentioned that carbon emissions in the operation phase of buildings in 2021 hit a record high. Building carbon emissions must be considered throughout their life cycle, including reducing the embodied carbon in building materials and guiding materials towards a circular economy. The government also needs to invest in the development of energy-saving design and low-carbon sustainable buildings, which closely echoes the three major topics of this forum.
Net Zero in Progress: 20% of companies disclosed three-category audits, but most still have not set carbon reduction targets
For the first time, CSRone Sustainability Think Tank analyzed the three major industries of "cement, steel, and construction" and published "The Current Low-Carbon Status and Outlook of Taiwan's Construction Industry". It used the 52 latest construction-related sustainability reports published as of the end of November 2022 as the main analysis target, and referred to the four core disclosure elements of "Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures" (TCFD) "governance, strategy, risk management, indicators and goals" to further explore the current situation of the industry.
The research team found in the survey that "climate change" has become a major risk for the upstream and downstream of the construction industry, and 20% of the companies in the construction industry have conducted three-way inspections on greenhouse gases. In addition, in the "Indicators and Goals" disclosure project overview, the three major industries have not yet fully set short-, medium- and long-term goals for net zero carbon reduction by 2050. Chen Houru, vice president of operations at CSRone Sustainability Think Tank, reminded that companies can use the relevant tools and suggestions of the international "Science Based Targeted Initiative" (SBTi) to set their own carbon reduction goals, and formulate clear strategies and action plans based on the actual operation situation to avoid falling into greenwashing disputes and triggering operational crises.
Net-zero future: A conversation on low-carbon buildings across Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan, building a net-zero strategy in three major areas
For construction companies, establishing a net zero strategy starts from the entire life cycle of the building, and carbon reduction strategies are implemented through three major aspects: "design", "daily operations" and "renewable energy inside and outside the site".
Chen Zhongren, general manager of SSDC Chengyu Green Building Design Consulting Company, mentioned that the building structure accounts for more than half of the building's embodied carbon emissions. There is no absolute answer to how to reduce structural carbon emissions. For example, increasing the proportion of blast furnace cement used, increasing the proportion of recycled steel in steel structures, or using low-carbon green cement are all ways. Delta Electronics used its self-built Tainan plant in 2006 as the first green building as an example, and explained that as of 2022, Delta Electronics has accumulated 32 green buildings and is actively promoting green building experience to the society, including low-carbon energy solutions and energy storage system applications. Zhang Zhaoxian, business director of the Industrial Technology Research Institute's Industry-Academia Service Center, explained how new and old residential and commercial buildings can reduce carbon emissions from three major aspects, analyzed the government's net zero emission-related policies, and used the Shalun Green Energy Technology Demonstration Site, which won the 2022 Global Construction Excellence Award-Industrial Building Gold Award, as an example to demonstrate the application of energy-saving, energy storage, and energy creation technologies.
Three international green building experts discussed policies and low-carbon building cases in different regions from an Asian perspective. Architect Lin Zhanglian used his classic work, Shalun Smart Green Energy Circular Residential Park, to explain from a design perspective how to create the world's first zero-waste, zero-pollution, building material recyclable residential park. Professor Zou Jingyu, a highly respected anti-evil hero and architectural expert in Hong Kong and China who found the transmission pathway of respiratory infectious diseases in buildings in 2004, introduced the achievements of Hong Kong's low-carbon buildings and his latest research content. His main research areas include sustainable building design and urban planning, performance-based building design simulation, urban energy consumption model, green buildings and computer-aided design.
Professor Wang Caiqiang explained the green building master plan in Singapore's Green Development Blueprint 2030. The three goals are "80% of buildings are green buildings before 2030", "80% of new buildings are super low energy (SLE) buildings from 2030", and "the energy efficiency of the best green buildings will be improved by 80% by 2030". He also used the SDE4 net-zero building of the National University of Singapore to further analyze its design, energy conservation and renewable energy strategies that respond to tropical climates. It is the first net-zero energy building in Southeast Asia.
Under the trend of sustainable development and the expectations and pressure of net-zero transformation, the "2022 Asian Low Carbon Building Forum" is an opportunity for Taiwan's construction industry to gather change. Through the industry analysis perspectives of sustainable consultants, rich experience sharing and policy analysis by Taiwan's industry leaders and Asian experts and scholars, it provides sustainable solutions for Taiwan's low-carbon building industry and jointly looks forward to new business opportunities for sustainable buildings in Asia.
【About CSRone Sustainability Think Tank】
In 2013, the International Business Group of Yide officially launched Taiwan's first sustainable information convergence platform CSRone (https://csrone.com/), sharing the world's most complete Chinese sustainable information. We are also committed to matching domestic and foreign resources, cultivating outstanding talents, connecting international partners, and developing sustainability-related tools to help organizations accelerate growth in the field of sustainability. In addition, CSRone regularly publishes a report on the current status of CSR development in Taiwan and Asia Pacific in March every year, in order to implement the goals of enterprises and institutions in the economy, environment, and society.
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