Climate Metrics and Targets | Strengthening Climate Resilience | Low Carbon | Shin Kong Life Sustainability

Strengthening Climate Resilience

Facing the challenges of climate change, SKL actively responds to climate-related risks and opportunities as well as develops low carbon transition strategies. In addition to planning climate mitigation and adaptation measures, SKL also continues to seek new climate-related opportunities through investing and financing, and product development.

Climate Metrics and Targets

The climate issue has attracted great international attention. In response to the global net-zero trend, the National Development Council of Taiwan has announced the "Taiwan's 2050 Net-Zero Emissions Pathway". In order to uphold the spirit of sustainable finance and respond to Taiwan’s net-zero strategy, SKFH, our parent company, officially signed the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) in 2022 to join the international decarbonization efforts. Following the SBTi guidance for financial institutions, we have developed decarbonization strategies and set Science-Based Targets (SBTs) specifically for Scope 3 investment and financing activities, and obtained SBTi approval in 2024. SKL has set its own operational carbon reduction goals and taken inventory of the carbon emissions of our investment portfolios. Furthermore, it has established climate-related indicators and identified climate opportunities, aiming to leverage our core competencies in the financial industry to promote the low-carbon transition.

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Strategic Direction Indicator Base year Short-term Medium/Long-Term Targets Execution Status in 2023
Carbon reduction practices in own operations GHG emissions(Scopes 1+2 carbon emissions) 2022
  • RReduce our own operational greenhouse gas emissions by 2%.
  • Achieve net zero emissions at the headquarters and main offices by 2030.
  • Reduce the total greenhouse gas scope 1 and 2 emissions by 42% in 2030.
  • GHG emissions
    Scope 1:1,463.21 tCO2e2e
    Scope 2:12,484.70 tCO2e2e
    Cumulative decrease of 9%
Decarbonization of investment portfolios Engagement 2022
  • The proportion of listed / OTC-traded stocks and bonds passing the SBT targets reaches 30%.
  • In 2027, the proportion of listed / OTC-traded stocks and bonds (including stocks, bonds, ETFs, REITS) passing the SBT targets will reach 50.3%.
  • The proportion of listed / OTC-traded stocks and bonds passing the SBT targets reached 39.9%.
Plan to phase out coal and unconventional oil and gas-related industries -
  • Suspend direct investment and financing support for coal and unconventional oil and gas-related projects (including new mining projects and continued expansion of existing projects), as well as projects for companies that continue to expand coal and unconventional oil and gas-related businesses.
  • By 2030, we will completely end investment and financing support for global coal-related industries.
  • High-carbon emitting industries accounted for 8.36%.
ESG-Themed Investment Sustainable investment 2022
  • Continue to strengthen the sustainable investment process to achieve sustainable and robust investment performance. Achieve a 3% CAGR in the amount of securities investments under the principles of sustainable investing in 5 years.
  • Continue to identify potential thematic and impactful investments to pursue long-term and stable returns.
  • Sustainable investment securities have a CAGR of 3.8% compared to the base year.
Low-carbon and green energy investments 2020
  • Continue to invest in the low carbon green energy industry, with a 400% growth rate in investments in green energy-related businesses.
  • Continue to invest in the low-carbon green energy industry, strengthen the engagement mechanism of investees, and exert sustainable financial influence.
  • Investments in green energy projects experienced a growth of 354%.

Management standards for carbon-intensive industries

 

Net zero emissions have become a global trend, and countries worldwide are progressively implementing carbon pricing mechanisms such as carbon taxes and carbon trading. The European Union is also planning to launch the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) in 2023. These new policies and trade rules will reshape the market, and governments around the world will introduce relevant policies to drive industrial and energy transformations. It is foreseeable that carbon-intensive industries heavily reliant on fossil fuels and electricity consumption will be most affected, and this will also have significant impacts on the capital market.
In addition, SKL has also established high-carbon emission sub-industry quotas (10%), early warnings (9%) and over-limit standard control mechanisms for carbon-intensive industries. Through monthly control and monitoring, every quarter report to the Risk Management Committee; when the sub-industry investment quota reaches the warning value of the limit, the Risk Management Department will issue a warning notice.
 

Commitment to phase out coal and unconventional oil and gas-related industries

 

SKL carefully evaluates the use of funds in coal-related high-carbon emitting industries, and follows SKFH' commitment to set a phase-out schedule for coal and unconventional oil and gas-related industries. The scope includes: listed / OTC-traded equity and debt, project financing, credit lines and loans, fixed income product underwriting service, and all active, passive and third-party managed investment positions. Our by-stage commitments are:

  1. Direct investment and financing support for coal and unconventional oil and gas-related projects (including new mining projects and continued expansion of existing projects), as well as projects for companies that continue to expand coal and unconventional oil and gas-related businesses, will be suspended from now on.
  2. By 2030, we will completely end investment and financing support for global coal-related industries.
  3. By 2040, we will completely end investment and financing support for unconventional oil and gas-related industries.


The above-mentioned related industries may be excluded if they have specific carbon reduction actions or specific transition plans including adopting science-based carbon reduction targets (SBT), using carbon capture technology to remove carbon emissions, or other carbon reduction actions recognized by third-party organizations. etc., or those that are state-owned enterprises / where local government holds more than 50% of the shares, and the local government has announced a net-zero pathway and net-zero targets consistent with the goals of the Paris Agreement, in such instances, case evaluation can be conducted, and the head of each unit is authorized to maintain business relationships with his / her consent.


 

SDGs