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Take Action in Environment Protection
In recent years, climate change and global warming has been granted an increasingly prominent place in government agenda around the world. The greenhouse effect is blamed by many for causing drastic landscape disruptions and undermining ecological equilibrium. The company’s commitment to helping preserve the planet is best illustrated by taking action on its well-rounded Green Policy white paper. In addition to introducing environmentally preferable hardware and tightening internal criteria over energy conservation and carbon reduction, E. SUN is an avid participant in various environmental protection initiatives launched by domestic and foreign organizations.
Participation in the Clean up the World Activity
E.SUN FHC and E.SUN Volunteers Foundation have been active participants in the Clean up the World activity initiated by the Good Neighbor Foundation. On September 17, 2010, a total of 2,302 people in the E.SUN family, including E.SUN Bank, E.SUN Securities, E.SUN Venture Capital, and E.SUN Insurance Brokers, traveled to some of the 120 spots around Taiwan that were designated for clean-up. This activity helped to bring greater attention to cleaning up the environment among the public at large.
Green Thumb Project
The Jane Goodall Institute has long been devoted to promoting environmental education and care for the environment, animals and the community. In 2006, it launched the Green Thumb Project, encouraging and helping schools, communities and businesses to plant as many easy-to-grow endemic plants as they can. Not only a welcome sight, the trees can help preserve a diverse flora. When the project began to solicit corporate sponsors in 2007, E. SUN made a donation and signed up as a partner to this environmental protection initiative.
Care for Mountains
- The Nationwide "Care for
Mountains" Initiative
To promote the “Care for Mountains” initiative nationwide while accommodating the climatic and other differences from region to region, E. SUN divided participants into 21 groups that were given the option of setting the date for their own event and how they were going to proceed with it. As such, the offshore island of Penghu chose to get involved in the campaign by cleaning up its beaches as it hardly has any mountain to speak of. It turns out that local residents and vacationers in Penghu were both avid participants.
- In 2009, E. SUN became a sponsor of the footpaths at Yushan National Park and got involved in the park’s propaganda program on ecological conservation and environmental education.
- E. SUN was a participant in the “2010 Yushan Festival—Guarding the Holy Mountain” event.
Gold FM’s "Switch Off Lights on
Mid-Autumn Festival"
Global warming is widely believed to be the reason why the earth has experienced all the erratic climatic changes in recent years. When man generates electricity, releasing an additional 0.637 kilogram of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere is a price he has to pay for every kilowatt hour. While all the extra carbon dioxide emissions constitute a key contributor to global warming, it makes perfect sense to help reduce such emissions by using as little electricity as possible. One kilowatt hour of electricity can be easily saved if ten 100 watt light bulbs are left off rather than on for one hour.
Acting as a responsible, green-minded corporate citizen, E. SUN was a faithful participant in the “Switch Off Lights on Mid-Autumn Festival” campaign initiated by Gold FM Network in both 2008 and 2009. From 8:00 pm to 9:00 pm on the night of the festival, it had its branches nationwide switch off their signboard lighting. Employees were also urged to follow the lead at home and take their families outdoors to admire a moon that much brighter and clearer.
Switch Off Lights on Summer Solstice
As the summer of 2009 approached, the use of electricity was bound to increase sharply. To awaken more people to the urgency of saving energy and reducing carbon emissions, Taiwan’s Society of Wilderness initiated a “Switch Off Lights on Summer Solstice” campaign. From 8:00 pm to 9:00 pm on the night of the longest day of the year, E. SUN had its branches nationwide switch off their signboard lighting. Employees were also urged to follow the lead at home. Held at a time when electricity use tended to be exceptionally heavier than other times of the year, the campaign was meant to inspire people to think twice about their consumption of energy. Perhaps they could thus develop a more environmentally preferable approach toward using household appliances and other electricity-powered devices.
Ten Resolutions on Energy Conservation and Carbon Reduction
The public needs to be reminded of their obligation to help with energy conservation and carbon reduction by changing their daily behavior in many aspects. Hopefully all the environmentally preferable practices will become habits taken for granted and as part of their lives. To help alleviate climate change and global warming, the Environmental Protection Administration drafted an Action Plan for Carbon Emissions Reduction. The World Wide Web of Public Action in Energy Conservation and Carbon Reduction was installed and the population was urged to endorse the Ten Resolutions on the cause. E. SUN took the lead to call upon all employees to sign up and take action to help turn Taiwan into a low-carbon society.
Earth Hour
Earth Hour was started by World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in 2007 in Sydney, Australia. On the night of the last Saturday of March, many iconic landmarks and office buildings dimmed their lights for one hour. Households and business establishments were urged to follow suit and join the call for action on climate change and global warming. E. SUN responded to the call in both 2009 and 2010. Branches nationwide turned their lights off for an hour when one billion people around the world did the same and gazed up at a star-lit sky that seems to promise hope for a brighter tomorrow.
Earth Day
- Lights Out for One Hour
Between 12:00 and 1:00 pm on Earth Day, lights are turned off at non-business offices and in less-used areas at business units. Meanwhile, the monitors of computers not in use are also switched off.
- Take Action on Carbon Reduction
While coming to work or going out for business on this particular day, employees are encouraged to shift to modes of transport conducive to reducing or even doing without carbon emissions: riding public transport or bicycles or sharing motor vehicles with others.
- Love Earth by Preserving the Environment
Customers are invited to join the cause of preserving the environment by subscribing to E. SUN’s e-services. Cardholders who apply for e-bills in place of paper statements, automatic payment of bills, and charge of other expenses to their card are entitled to special bonus points. In observance of its 40th anniversary, Earth Day 2010 highlighted a big variety of global initiatives. Among them was a Billion Acts of Green Campaign that would aggregate the millions of environmental service commitments made by individuals and organizations around the world each year. Taiwan’s environmental groups endorsed the campaign by launching one of their own: Million Acts of Green. In its turn, E. SUN appealed to employees to join the cause by changing their way of life into an eco-friendly one. Showing love to Mother Earth by helping preserve its natural environment, E. SUN believes, is a responsibility and obligation to be shouldered by each and every one in Taiwan, a resident of the global village itself.
International Car-Free Day
Making its debut in France, International Car-Free Day has come to be embraced by government authorities and civic groups in Taiwan. Motorists are encouraged to give up their car for one day and make use of other energy-saving, sustainable modes of transport instead. On this particular day in 2008 and 2009, E. SUN called upon employees to come to work by shifting to modes of transport conducive to reducing or even doing without carbon emissions: riding public transport or bicycles, walking, or sharing motor vehicles with others. They were also encouraged to take part in other Car-Free Day activities as yet another step toward changing gear to an environment-friendly way of life.
Inspire Environmental Awareness Across the Community, Remind Business Partners of CSR
- Befriend the Community, Foster Environmental Awareness
Before starting a business day at 8:30 am, employees at E. SUN branches nationwide will take the initiative to clean up the immediate vicinity of their workplace. While the chore takes no more than 10 odd minutes, it is a welcome daily routine that has won the hearts of any number of customers and local residents. E. SUN also stands to benefit from this befriending act as it enjoys high regard among the public while all employees thus make a more than pleasant working environment for themselves.
- Reduce Carbon Footprint with Seasonal Diet
Without falling short of the nutritional requirements, E. SUN instructs its staff cafeteria to procure only an optimal amount of seasonal foods produced locally or imported from nearby countries. It hopes to keep the waste of resources to a minimum and curtail its carbon footprint by lessening the need for transport and cold storage and cutting back on food waste.
- Maximize Green Cycle in Outsourcing and Procurement
At E. SUN, prices are never the ultimate determining factor when it comes to outsourcing of construction projects and procurement of necessities and supplies. Preference is mostly granted to local suppliers as the company would like to help foster domestic industry while minimizing the waste of energy incurred in the transportation process. All in all, E. SUN hopes to promote environmental protection and green consumption even as it undertakes procurement and outsourcing. An expanded green cycle readily comes into being when and if business partners join the cause.
Take the construction and furnishing of its branches. All contractors are required to work together in quality management, helping to keep up the cleanliness and safety of their work site. In 2009, E. SUN’s Jinhua branch in Tainan City was cited by the city’s Environmental Protection Bureau as an environmentally preferable construction project conducted in the previous year. The credit should also go to contractors that teamed up with E. SUN to help protect the environment over the course of the project.