New corporate carbon neutrality policy aims to discourage 'greenwashing'

Taipei, Sept. 26 (CNA) The Ministry of Environment (MOENV) on Thursday released a set of operational guidelines for corporations to declare carbon neutrality, in a bid to avoid "greenwashing," but no penalties were included for non-compliance.

Under the new guidelines, corporations are encouraged to declare carbon neutrality on their products, services, or organizations, "to avoid circumstances under which they could make false declarations or mislead the public without revealing adequate information," according to the ministry.

"We have seen products, or even events such as marathons, claiming to have achieved carbon neutrality, but if the corporations have a distorted definition of the term, or consumers have little understanding of it, then that declaration becomes pointless," Deputy Environment Minister Shih Wen-chen (施文真) said at a press conference.

The aim of the new guidelines is to avoid "greenwashing," which according to the World Economic Forum (WEF) mainly takes the form of "selective disclosure" or "symbolic actions," a ministry official said at the press conference.

According to the WEF, "selective disclosure" means advertising the positive aspects of a product's environment performance while hiding the negative factors. "Symbolic actions" refer to a focus on attention-grabbing activities, such as purchasing carbon credits, while failing to take substantial actions to cut emissions, the WEF said.

On Thursday, the MOENV said that its guidelines, which were compiled based on existing international standards such as the ISO14068-1 and Greenhouse Gas Protocol, have three main stages that need to be followed step by step.

The first step is a complete calculation of a corporation's carbon emissions, or the products and services for which it wants to declare carbon neutrality, the ministry said.

The corporation should then make public its science-based decarbonization pathway and how much resulting reduction it has achieved, with verification from an independent certification agency, the MOENV said.

In the third stage, which can only be undertaken after the first two are completed, accredited carbon credits will be used to offset emissions, the ministry said.

Responding to reporters' questions, Shih said the ministry will not take any initiatives to examine products or services that corporations claim to be carbon neutral, nor would it provide any relevant certification.

"For now, compliance with the guidelines is voluntary, as our current aim is mainly education and advocacy," she said. "Public discussion will be needed if the guidelines are to be made compulsory."

As such, no penalties will be imposed for failure to follow the guidelines, but consumers can report "false or misleading advertising" to the Fair Trade Commission, which will assess the case, based on the ministry's guidelines, Shih said.