National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) has announced that it will continue to invest in companies that operate sustainably and robustly, protect the natural environment, and fulfill their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in its 2022 Financial Plan Report in response to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in order to fulfill its University Social Responsibility (USR).
This makes NTNU become the 2nd university in Taiwan after National Taiwan University (NTU) that pledges to ensure that its endowment funds will be of responsible investment, making itself aligned with 170+ higher education institutes worldwide that have completely or partially divested from fossil-fuel industries to fight against climate change and realize sustainable developments.
350 Taiwan hereby highly supports and appreciates this decision made by NTNU. With the ongoing “climate emergency”, if the human society wishes to achieve the temperature goal set by the Paris Agreement, multilateral stakeholders must change the direction of money flow to combat the climate crisis, which means divesting from fossil-fuel industries and re-investing in industries that accelerate sustainable development, including renewable energies, circular economy, electrification of transportation, and other solutions to climate change. In the meantime, universities, which educate and empower youth students, must become positive paradigms for their students and faculties and be responsible for future generations, in order to preserve their right to live and ensure intergenerational equity.
Nowadays, climate change and sustainable development are not only an environmental issue, but also a crucial factor in the governance of a nation, as well as in the high-level political fields, inclusive of international trades, diplomatic relations, and even military conflicts and regional safety. As the 2050 Net-Zero Emission has become the consensus among most nations, green finance and sustainable investments have become an international trend and the focus of investors, whose financial support for renewables, circular economy, electrification of transportation, and other innovative technologies serves as our most solid foundation for mitigating climate change.
Once again, 350 Taiwan calls upon universities, financial institutes, corporations, governmental sectors, and other relevant stakeholders to stop investing in fossil-fuel industries, to preserve the welfare of ourselves and of future generations. By doing so, we can all take a step forward to tackle the climate crisis!
350 Taiwan