International Initiatives

Following the Principle of Responsible Investment (PRI), Cathay Financial Holdings actively participates in various investor initiatives and discussions, and hopes to promote the low-carbon transformation of the investee through alliances with other institutional investors. Meanwhile, let the world see Taiwan company’s efforts in combating climate change.One of the key spirits of responsible investment is to engage investees and encourage them to pursue profit and growth with social and environmental sustainability. Cathay is an active participant in investor engagement actions with the aim of setting a benchmark for peers in Taiwan. Cathay has participated in multiple international organizations and initiatives since 2017, and has actively followed up on sustainability issues of critical importance to the international community, such as climate change. Cathay has established the engagement policy in 2018. We also identified "climate change" and "ESG Disclosure" as key engagement strategies in 2019, and initiated more intensified engagements with investee companies.

 

Cathay has gained international recognition for our efforts over the years. The Investor Agenda announced the Investor Climate Action Plans (ICAP) in 2021, and Cathay FHC was the only asset owner in Asia to be included in the world's top ten best practice for our corporate engagement and policy advocacy performance. Please see Home > Corporate Sustainability > Responsible Investment and Lending > Responsible Investment for more details.

   

 

Actively participate in CDP

Cathay FHC continues to keep abreast with international trends in sustainable development and became a CDP signatory in 2012. Cathay FHC went on to sign the CDP Water Disclosure Program Forest Footprint Disclosure Program Commit to responsible corporate engagement in climate policy and Commit to implement the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate related Financial Disclosures. Also, Cathay was the only institutional investor in Taiwan participating in the CDP Non-discloser Engagement campaign in 2017. Cathay invited other international investors engaging with the non-responding companies to respond CDP questionnaires. 19%of the companies have responded to CDP questionnaire in 2017. The response rate is higher than 11% of CDP overall response rate.

 

The CDP's "Non-Disclosure Campaign" invited investors to ask investees to disclose environmental information. Cathay has participated in the initiative for four consecutive years since 2017 and was the only financial institution in Taiwan to have participated in the campaign. Cathay uses one-on-one communication to explain the material impact of climate change, forest, and water resource issues on companies and encourages them to disclose related data and management measures for investors to evaluate related risks.The success rate of engagement was 25%, which is higher than the global average, after engaging 40 companies in 2021. Cathay has successfully engaged 35 companies since 2017 and 52% of the companies improved their CDP scores in the following year, which demonstrated the long-term positive impact of successful engagement.

 

 

Development guidelines correspond to UN’s Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs)

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) presented the problems which faced by countries in the world , and have planned 17 sustainable development goals and 169 indicators based on active practice of equality and human rights. SDGs will be the guiding principles of cross-border cooperation among member countries in the next 15 years. Cathay FHC also bases on the core business of the financial industry, analyzes of the status quo in Taiwan and SDGs, and selects four major issues as the direction that we will create long-term value. Among them, renewable energy and infrastructure issues cover SDGs in Decent Work and Economic Growth, Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, Sustainable Cities and Communities and Climate Action.

 


Cathay Earth-Hour

We participated in Earth-Hour, an event organized by the WWF, in response to energy conservation and carbon reduction initiatives, and have influenced even more people through social media by encouraging public engagement in carbon reduction measures. Statistics of Taiwan Power Company show that power consumption around Taiwan decreased by 100,000 kWh that day.

 

 

Story Trees Spread Out Greenness in Community

Cathay FHC persists in being "The Tree" in Taiwan, so we promote tree-planting and ecological protection activities in the community actively, making the green community surrounding every corner of Taiwan. In 2017, the foundation kept its endeavor and mobilized ts volunteers to participate in tree planting events in Nantou, Yilan, and Taipei City. Taiwan’s forest is facing the invasion of an alien plant Mikania micrantha, nicknamed “green cancer”. Luodong forest District Office held a green cancer prevention and removal event in Yilan County. More than 80 volunteers from Cathay’s Jiaoxi Sub-team joined the event and removed green cancer of 1,720 kilograms together with the locals, helping restore an optimal growing environment for the Taiwanese native plants. In December 2017, Cathay sponsored Taiwan Native Plant Society to hold the 2017 Tree-planting Fiesta in Wenshan District, Taipei City.

 

 

Waste Free and Plastic Free Initiative

Cathay began the bottled water decommissioning program in 2017, and joined the “Waste Free and Plastic Free Initiative” initiative held by the Tse-Xin Organic Agriculture Foundation (TOAF) and the Taipei City Government in 2018, inviting everyone to reduce the use of disposable plastic products to create a sustainable culture that is good for protecting ocean.


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