With sound environmental management measures and mechanisms in place, SKL reduces the consumption of energy and resources in day-to-day business operations and overall carbon emissions, contributing to the sustainability of the environment.

In the life insurance industry, business operations do not have a huge negative impact on the environment. Notwithstanding, we still integrate the low carbon concept into our daily business activities based on four low carbon strategies. In 2022, we implemented carbon pricing in accordance with the SKFH's "Regulations Governing Greenhouse Gas Reduction and Carbon Pricing" to control the cost of carbon and carbon efficiency. The carbon pricing regulations described above were further amended in 2022, and specifies that the internal carbon price collected according to the regulations shall be listed as expenses for energy conservation projects in the following year, in order to effectively manage carbon risks. We also set interim (2025, 2030) carbon reduction goals and implementation strategies for operations to achieve net zero emissions, conducted a full review of lighting usage and gradually replaced non-LED lights, and optimized the energy efficiency of energy-consuming equipment, such as air conditioners. We are actively lowering our dependency on energy and resources, and replacing energy and resource use that cannot be reduced with renewable energy and eco-friendly products, which will benefit environmental sustainability. The head office will formally begin using renewable energy in 2023, and will achieve the goal of net zero emissions before 2026.

It is incumbent on SKL to protect the environment. To implement environmental management, we adopted environmental management certification operations since 2014, and maintained system operation, including ISO 50001 Energy Management System, ISO 14046 Water Footprint, and ISO 14064-1:2018 Greenhouse Gas (100% coverage, including overseas operations). In 2022, we completed the certification of all of these environmental management systems and obtained third-party verifications.

GHG emissions

In 2022, our Scopes 1 and 2 GHG emissions totaled 15,322.28 metric tons of CO2e (tCO2e), with the emission intensity per capita reaching 1.59 tCO2e, slight increase from 2021. We will promote various energy saving and carbon reduction measures, and improve energy efficiency actively to cut down on GHG emissions towards the long-term carbon reduction target. In addition to improving energy efficiency, we will continuously support green energy. SKL will use green electricity to replace part of the general electricity consumption from 2023, and gradually increase the proportion of green electricity usage in line with the SKFH group's net zero goal to combat global warming.

Electricity consumption

Energy consumption for transportation

Water consumption

Waste management

Energy Saving Projects

We comply with regulations of the parent company Shin Kong Financial Holdings, and set the goal to reduce general electricity consumption by 2% a year up to 2025 with 2019 as the baseline year. However, we did not achieve the electricity conservation goal due to epidemic prevention measures, such as remote work and video conferencing, taken in response to the pandemic in 2020, increased electricity consumption after personnel returned to the office as the pandemic subsided, and certain administrative units relocating from Shin Kong Life Tower to Songshan Finance Building. In the future, we will focus even more on replacing energy-consuming equipment, such as air conditioners and lights, and will improve our energy efficiency by participating in energy saving courses, activities, or plans of government agencies, in order to achieve our electricity conservation goal.

Energy saving in data center

Aiming for energy saving and carbon reduction, we select energy-efficient equipment, integrate the virtual environment and resources, and adjust electricity consumption in the data center based on annual business growth. In 2022, PUE of our data center at Bade Building remained between 1.59 and 1.69, rated the bronze benchmark by Green Grid.

Results of Paperless Operations in 2022 

In response to the advent of the digital age, SKL has introduced technologies to facilitate marketing and management, cut down on paper consumption, and communicate the concept of energy conservation and carbon reduction to customers. In addition, in response to COVID-19 pandemic in the past two years, in order to reduce the risk of exposure, we have also accelerated the development of digital services, which in turn has improved the performance of paper reduction.  

SKL is actively promoting digital finance and environmental education. We are committed to reducing the consumption of energy and resources through mobilize, cloud-based, electronic, and digital services and tools. We also call on employees and their family members and policyholders to exert their influence and take measures to save energy and reduce carbon emissions at work and in their lives. 

Enjoy Low Carbon and Green Life 

As the COVID-19 pandemic raged in Taiwan, SKL made a huge change in work arrangements in 2022 by adopting online meetings and training programs avoid unnecessary contact. This not only saved our employees from the risk of infection, but reduced the carbon footprint generated from commuting and movement. We are aware that field staff’s travel produces carbon emissions. In this regard, besides using digital services and tools, we are constantly encouraging the field staff to walk or take low carbon transportation such as bicycles to visit policyholders at short range, which can reduce GHG emissions and is also good for their health. Continuing to promote the idea of "embracing green life and adapting to climate change," SKL has participated in Earth Hour for 14 consecutive years since 2008, hoping to save energy and reduce carbon with concrete actions. 

As of 2022, SKL has organized the "Light Shirts in Summer" for 16 years. In response to the government's energy saving and carbon reduction policies, we called on male employees to wear shirts without ties and female employees to wear short-sleeved uniforms; in addition, the temperature for air conditioning in office buildings was kept between 26~28° C in the summer per the Bureau of Energy's instructions.

Water saving initiatives 

Water is mainly used by employees and some consumers for day-to-day business operations. Since the main source is tap water, all domestic sewage is discharged to sewage systems, connected to local cities and do not pose a risk of leakages or pollution entering water sources. SKL is committed to reducing water waste. However, due to the partial relocation of the headquarters and the slowdown of the epidemic, resulting in a decrease in the number of people working from home, the water consumption in 2022 slightly increased by 1.91% compared with last year. In the future, we will draw up all-round water management policies to reduce water consumption.

SKL is constantly adjusting its thoughts on buildings, aiming to construct buildings with post-disaster resilience and sustainability in line with SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities, improve the energy efficiency of existing buildings, and get certified to Green Building Labels. We expect to create an energyefficient, eco-friendly lifestyle and reduce the environmental impact of our business operations.

Results of Green Buildings

As part of our commitment to eco-friendly buildings, SKL has been constructing energy-efficient and sustainable buildings that will benefit people living there and the environment in perpetuity. As of 2022, we had applied for Green Building Labels for seven buildings, including six Green Building Labels (obtained) and one candidate for Green Building Labels, and obtained one LEED credential. We also expect to apply for Green Building Labels for six projects that will start construction in 2022 or are still under planning. In 2022, we obtained Green Building Labels (Silver) for Shin Kong Jasper Villa President and candidate for Green Building Labels for Shin Kong Hangzhou North Road Superficies Case. Following the seven indicators of Green Building Labels (greenery, soil water retention, daily energy saving, CO2 reduction, construction waste reduction, water resources, and sewage and garbage improvement), we strove to create low carbon smart green buildings by planting a large number of trees and shrubs in the base, installing energy-efficient air-conditioners and LED lights, water-saving bathroom equipment, garbage refrigerators, and adopting considerable quantities of green building materials.