Climate Governance and Strategy
ASUS Disseminated its Visionary Blueprint for the Carbon Pricing Era in COP28
The COP28 conference took place in the United Arab Emirates in December 2023, where consensus was reached through negotiations within the primary framework of the Paris Agreement. This achievement elevated global ambitions for climate action, reinforced capacities for climate change adaptation, increased climate financing, and advanced technology transfer and capacity-building efforts.
Invited by the Taiwan Climate Partnership, ASUS participated in the "High-Tech Net Zero Initiative" and the "Digital & Green" forum at the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 2023. ASUS shared its 20-year sustainability transformation journey, illustrating how it employs strategies of "Using Digitized Data and Scientific Management Practices to Support Sustainable Value Creation through Core Competencies" to gradually mitigate climate risks. Through comprehensive assessments of the transformational and physical risks posed by climate change to ASUS operations, our greatest challenges arise from increasingly stringent international carbon policies, such as the cost escalation resulting from the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), and supply chain disruptions caused by extreme weather events. By conducting climate risk assessments helps us gain deeper insights into financial impacts and the cost of carbon reduction initiatives. Mitigating and adapting to climate change effects may also yield substantial financial returns in clean technology development, including renewable energy, energy storage, hydrogen energy, low-carbon materials, circular economy practices, carbon capture and utilization, as well as emerging technologies like blockchain and AI applications.
Governance
ASUS' climate change governance and management structure is under the direct supervision of the Board of Directors. The Chairman has instructed the CEO to be the highest responsible management representative for climate change and sustainable management. ASUS established the "GreenASUS & SERASUS Steering Committee" with the Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) as the management representative authorized by the CEO. In addition, ASUS has also incorporated the sustainable development taskforce unit as one of the taskforce units of the Business Continuity Management Committee.
Board of Directors
ASUS' corporate sustainability policy is approved by the Chairman, who serves as the highest authority responsible for the group's sustainability-related issues, including the approval of climate change response strategies. The promotion of climate action initiatives and goal management is regularly reported to the board of directors annually. Starting from 2022, reporting to the Board of Directors has been elevated to a quarterly basis.
Sustainability and Green Quality Management Center
The Chairman has instructed the CEO to serve as the highestranking manager for climate change and sustainability management, and establish the dedicated unit "Sustainability and Green Quality Management Center". The Company appointed a Chief Sustainability Officer to analyze global sustainability trends and execute sustainability projects. The Company also incorporated sustainable development as one of the task units of the Business Continuity Management Committee, which reports risk management indicators related to climate change each quarter.
ESG Committee
The Chief Sustainability Officer serves as the committee chair. Committee members come from business operations units and support units. It is responsible for inter-departmental coordination and collaboration to implement sustainability strategies and climate action issues into products, operations, and value chain management.
Strategy
As the threat of climate change intensifies, “net zero emissions by 2050” has become a consensus in global climate actions. Nearly 140 countries across the world that produce 88% of global carbon emissions have promised to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. According to the “Net Zero Economy Index 2021” published by PwC, achieving net zero emissions by 2050 will be difficult, unless carbon emissions by half by 2030 and achieving net zero emissions by 2050 require a five-fold increase in the rate of global decarbonization. It means that every industry across the world must accelerate their transformation to achieve net zero emissions. ASUS has set science-based targets (SBT) for carbon emission reduction and initiated its climate actions in three stages: enhancing energy efficiency, expanding the utilization of renewable energy, and reducing emissions by means of innovative technologies to lead the value chain to net zero.
ASUS Net Zero Vision
2025
Enhance energy efficiency
- Ensure the energy efficiency of products reaches 30% above the ENERGY STAR® standard
- Achieve a 30% reduction in carbon intensity rates in the supply chain
2030
Expand the use of renewable energy
- Use 100% renewable energy in Taiwan-based operations centers
2035
- Use 100% renewable energy in global operations centers
2050
Innovative technologies
- Invest in innovative technologies
- Remove residual emissions
- Lead the value chain to net zero
