The Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) states that increasingly more institutional investors are evaluating corporate ESG(Environmental, Social and Governance) practices and performance as part of their decision-making process.  The number of institutional signatories participating in the United Nations-backed Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) Initiative now includes more than 1,300 signatories representing over $45 trillion in assets under management.
 
This seminar "The Evolving Trend of Sustainability/ Environmental, Social And Governance (ESG)-Growing Interest In ESG Investing" was held on October 13, 2015, cohosted by the TWSE, KPMG and BNY Mellon to attract corporation and institutional investors' attention on Responsible Investment, and promote the idea of integrating sustainability considerations into investment decisions.
 
The seminar includes 3 keynote speeches from representatives of BNY Mellon, Russell Investments and KPMG to reveal trends of ESG and Responsible Investment in Asia and global markets, and how ESG factors could be integrated into the decision-making process of a global institutional investor. After these speeches, the topic of " Leading companies in ESG to share experiences: Dow Jones Sustainability Indices Constituents experience sharing " was explored in a general session.  The session was moderated by TWSE president Michael Lin(林火燈) and its panelists include Yancey Hai(海英俊), the chairman of Delta Electronics, Inc., Chunghwa Telecom vice president Hsu-hui Ho (何旭輝), BNY Mellon Taiwan Country Executive Nadia Chen(陳淑娟), and Niven Huang(黃正忠), General Manager KPMG Sustainability Consulting Co..
 
Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) Chairman Ming-chung Tseng (曾銘宗), TWSE chairman Sush-der Lee (李述德), BNY Mellon APAC Head of Depositary Receipts Neil Atkinson, and Winston Yu, Chairman and CEO of KPMG in Taiwan were invited to give remarks in the seminar.  The attendance of a number of executives from financial institutions and listed companies highlights the emphasis enterprises place on the topics discussed.  Through this seminar, TWSE hopes to disseminate the idea of how ESG should be disclosed and put into practice, and further enhance the visibility and position of Taiwan in the field of Responsible Investment.