Chang Hwa Bank|Corporate Social Responsibility-Green Office

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Green Office

The Bank has formulated an environmental resource and energy use management policy and responds to and implements 29 indicators of "Green Office" of MOENV, including "saving energy and resources, "Reduction at the source", "green procurement", "environmental greening", "promotion and initiatives". The Bank is awarded Bronze Level of the 5th National Enterprise Environmental Protection Award by MOENV.
The Bank implements various resource conservation and energy-saving measures, and voluntarily introduces international management systems such as environmental management systems, energy management systems, and water resource efficiency management systems. We also undergo annual inspections by external organizations to ensure the effective operation of these mechanisms. By implementing resource utilization and management, we not only reduce greenhouse gas emissions but also lower operational costs associated with resource consumption, thereby enhancing overall environmental governance performance.
The Bank records usage for water, electricity, fuel oil, natural gas, and other resources annually. When there is non-compliance with or abnormality in environmental management requirements, timely and effective corrective measures are taken to reduce the impact on the environment. Regular identification and assessment of environmental impacts are conducted. We set short- and medium-term targets by stages for each energy and resource indicators, and improvement goals and management plans are established for tracking.

Energy Utilization and Management

The Bank uses Taipei Building of the Head Office as the demonstration site. In 2016, we introduced the energy management system and passed third-party verification to obtain ISO 50001 certification. We have formulated related reduction measures according to our energy management system implementation experience.

The total electricity consumption in 2023 is decreased by roughly 13% (4,045,733 kWh) compared to the base year (2020). Overall, electricity consumption remained lower than the base year, reflecting of the Bank's energy-saving initiatives. Going forward, the Bank will continue to replace outdated lighting and AC equipment to achieve energy-saving target.

Fuel Utilization and Management of Official Vehicles

To implement energy-saving measures and reduce air pollution, the Bank manages daily gasoline and diesel consumption. Whenever possible, employees are encouraged to carpool or use public transportation for business travels. In addition, in response to the country's policy of electric vehicle use, all units are encouraged to choose electric scooters approved by the Ministry of Economic Affairs when replacing scooters or purchasing new scooters.

The total fuel consumption in 2023 is decreased by20.9% (140,678 L) compared to the base year (2020). However, with the gradual easing of COVID-19 restrictions and a return to in-person visits with customers, the Bank aims to prevent an increase in fuel consumption. In the future, the Bank will prioritize hybrid vehicles for new leases or lease renewals, in order to improve vehicle energy efficiency and reduce fuel consumption.

Water Utilization and Management

In view of the occurrence of extreme weather events in various regions across Taiwan in early 2021, which resulted in different levels of water restrictions or outages, the Bank took the lead by using its Taipei Building of the Head Office as a demonstration site in implementing a water resource efficiency management system for the first time to mitigate the risk of future water shortages in 2021. The system was verified by the British Standards Institution (BSI), making the Bank the first BSI-certified company in Taiwan for ISO 46001.
In order to implement water usage efficiency and reduce water waste, the Bank has stipulated the water efficiency management policy. We are committed to "Disseminate and promote the concept of water conservation to ensure the implementation of water conservation", "Priority purchase of products with water saving labels when buying or replacing devices", "Periodically track water use efficiency to reduce overall water consumption", "Continuously invest in resources to improve the performance of water resources year by year", and "Comply with the regulations of water management and other related requirements", in order to find water conservation opportunities and formulate water reduction measures.
The total water withdrawal in 2023 is decreased by 6.01% (9,861 m3) compared to the base year (2020). This reduction was attributed to the Bank's effective water resource reduction measures. Additionally, the Bank built an online water reporting system for regular monthly reporting from each department to monitor and track water usage in real time.

Waste Management and Recycling

In order to achieve resource sustainable utilization and ensure proper waste disposal, the Bank proactively manages waste at its Taipei Building of the Head Office. We promote energy conservation and waste reduction, implement resource recycling and classification from the source, and regularly record the quantity of waste.

With 2020 as the base year, the Bank has set a target for 2023 to reduce waste generation in Taipei building of the Head Office by 3% and achieve a recycling rate of 15%. In 2023, the general waste generated in Taipei building of the Head Office was 106.27 tons, down 12.44% from 2020. Additionally, the recycling rate reached 39.68%. The effectiveness of waste reduction measures is evident. The Bank will implement waste reduction and management in two stages. Firstly, for existing waste statistics targets (such as the Taipei building of the Head Office), additional reduction measures and mid-term goals will be created. Secondly, the waste statistics boundary will be expanded, focusing on managing large waste generators.
In 2023, the Bank held Reuse Swap Event and low-carbon vegetarian food experience event at its Head Office. The event encouraged employees to donate functional and aesthetically pleasing secondhand items such as books, household items, accessories, and backpacks that they no longer needed. By facilitating peer-to-peer exchange, the event increased the value of these disposable items and achieved an exchange rate of approximately 77%. The event featured a vegetarian experience with a hydroponic lettuce stand that allowed colleagues to participate in harvesting and tasting lettuce. The initiative was designed to promote the concept of low-carbon diets and highlight the environmental benefits of sustainable reuse and waste reduction.
*Note: The calculation formula is number of items taken divided by the number of items donated.

Green Procurement

To show our emphasis on environmental protection, the Bank's procurement prioritizes eco-friendly products with eco-friendly labels, carbon footprint labels, energy-saving labels, water-saving labels, green building material labels, FSC certified labels, etc., to minimize the environmental impact of operations. In 2023, the Bank expanded its green procurement reporting to include items such as lease-instead-of-purchase arrangements and renewable energy certificates. The total amount for the year exceeded NT$85.34 million, setting a new record. Products with environmental labels accounted for the majority of green procurement, accounting for more than half of the total.

Paperless office

In order to actively promote paperless measures in all business operations and to incorporate the concept of circular economy, which aims to achieve resource recycling by reducing paper consumption, the performance and explanations of various measures are outlined below:

Loan Application Process
Recognizing that traditional loan processing often involves a lot of paper and time, the Bank has established the "e-Lucky Loan Online Financing Platform". This platform enables customers to apply for loans online, thereby promoting low-carbon service measures. In 2021, we launched the "Instant Salary Loans" platform, which caters to eligible corporate payroll transfer customers. The entire process, from application, review, and contract signing to disbursement, can be completed online through the system or app, effectively reducing paper printing and time consumption. This also minimizes the carbon emissions associated with customers traveling to the bank, furthering a collaborative effort toward a low-carbon environment.
Insurance and Trust Services
To reduce the number of insurance agency business reports, customer communication data reports for the insurance, trust and structured products businesses will be integrated and converted to electronic forms. In addition, the tracking and management review mechanisms for "suspected abnormal solicitation cases" and "discrepancies in the financial data of life insurance products compared to the previous audit" will be converted to online reporting using electronic forms. The Bank has implemented electronic processes and created a mobile insurance platform. This platform enables the use of electronic documents to replace paper insurance applications and related documents throughout the insurance process. Currently, traditional insurance, health and accident insurance, investment-linked insurance, and participating insurance can be processed through mobile insurance. The bank has also implemented incentive programs to increase the usage rate of mobile insurance services and continues to expand the range of applicable products by adding more insurance companies to the platform.
Credit Card Service
The Bank has been promoting the digitalization of accounts and credit cards for many years. Both digital accounts and credit cards can be applied for through our online system. This approach not only aligns with the benefits of paperless transactions but also reduces the carbon emissions generated by customers traveling to branches for applications, thereby achieving our goal of providing low-carbon financial services. The issuance of approximately 93,469 new credit cards in 2023 resulted in a reduction of 93,469 physical copies of terms and conditions/benefit handbooks, thereby conserving paper usage. In 2023, 2,211,864 credit card statements were mailed. Of these, 1,047,247 were electronic statements, representing 47% of the total.
Internal Operations
In line with the Bank's environmental sustainability policy and in order to effectively reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions, the Bank recognizes that reducing the use of paper in daily operations can significantly reduce deforestation and carbon emissions. Therefore, the Bank regularly monitors its copy paper consumption, calculates paper savings, and conducts rolling reviews to progressively improve its environmental sustainability performance.