Professor Anne Wu Partners with NCCU to Launch ESG Solutions, Aiming to Help Global Businesses Achieve Sustainable Transformation

In March of this year, then-President Tsai Ing-wen awarded the honor of National Chair Professor to Professor Anne Wu of National Chengchi University (NCCU). Professor Wu’s innovative Activity Value Management (AVM) system has garnered significant international recognition, earning four awards from the American Accounting Association (AAA) and making her the first Asian scholar to achieve such an honor. The AVM system analyzes operational data to identify issues and to optimize management processes, thus helping businesses reduce hidden costs and significantly enhance operational efficiency.

Professor Wu has now applied the AVM system to the growing critical areas of ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance), assisting companies in identifying more precise directions for corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainable development and ensuring that resources are used in the most valuable areas. NCCU plans to host the NCCU ESG Solutions Launch Conference on October 25 with the participation of Financial Supervisory Commission Chairman Jin-Lung Peng and Minister of Environment Chi-Ming Peng, aiming to help Taiwanese enterprises stand among their international peers in the journey towards sustainable transformation.

The NCCU ESG Solutions launch conference has formed a strategic alliance covering ten institutions, including E.SUN Commercial Bank, TÜV Rheinland Taiwan, SGS Taiwan, Ernst & Young Taiwan, KPMG Taiwan, Dinkle Enterprise Co., Ltd., BSI Group Taiwan, PwC Taiwan, SYSTEX Corporation, and Deloitte Taiwan.

Introduced by the United Nations in 2004, the concept of ESG has become a key indicator for evaluating corporate performance. In the past, businesses only needed to focus on financial performance. With the rise of sustainability and environmental awareness, ESG performance has progressively become a core global standard for assessing corporate success and a crucial factor in investment markets. According to regulations from the Taiwan Stock Exchange, listed companies with capital over NT$2 billion are required to prepare and report sustainability reports starting in 2023, making ESG reporting a necessary part of business operations.

While many companies have started to engage in various ESG activities, few can clearly identify whether their ESG projects or accomplishments truly meet stakeholder needs, whether resources are being effectively utilized, or if sustainable value is being created. Especially with the potential introduction of future carbon taxes, how companies accurately calculate energy-saving and carbon-reduction data and align with international standards are pressing issues.

Professor Wu’s Integrated Strategic Value Management System (iSVMS), which includes strategic formation and execution tools such as the SO Scorecard and BSC, has introduced two solutions, ESG-SOR and ESG-BSC, for effective ESG management in businesses. These solutions help companies develop appropriate ESG strategies and ensure their proper execution. Through ESG-SOR and ESG-BSC, companies can identify their advantages and opportunities relative to competitors and further analyze how to achieve the value propositions of stakeholders such as suppliers, customers, and business partners and ultimately present a win-win scenario for both society and the environment.

The AVM-based iSVMS system has also developed innovative C-PVM technology for calculating carbon footprints, which can accurately measure product and Scope 3 emissions while ensuring verifiability of carbon data. This enables companies to update their carbon footprint data for various products in real-time. By calculating the carbon emissions data for water, electricity, fuel, and transportation costs, businesses are able to better understand their carbon hotspots and find niches in sustainable finance.

The final technology in the NCCU ESG Solutions suite, ESG-PVM, also evolves from the AVM system. It systematizes the calculation of ESG activities, operations, and management directions and analyzes the resources spent on ESG and the value created for stakeholders, such as costs incurred in complying with government ESG policies or in collaboration with strategic partners, while responding to any positive feedback from stakeholders’ value propositions.

Over 50 Taiwanese and foreign companies are currently using NCCU ESG Solutions technologies. They have demonstrated concrete results, such as Sunright Foods Corporation’s use of Black Soldier Fly (Hermetia Illucens), an insect known for its larvae’s ability to break down organic waste efficiently, for waste reduction and Pro-Luck Co., Ltd.’s use of electric motorcycles to reduce carbon emissions.

At the ESG Solutions Launch Conference on October 25, NCCU aims to foster industry-academia collaboration, not only by building an ESG ecosystem for industries, but also helping Taiwanese companies make a mark on the international ESG stage. In the future, these ESG technologies will be integrated with artificial intelligence (AI) to provide more accurate ESG predictive analytics and to help businesses swiftly and accurately navigate the path toward long-term sustainable development.