DBS Taiwan continues to make strides in green finance innovation and announced on 12 April that CHIMEI Corporation, the world’s largest maker of ABS resin, has established a NT$1 billion green deposit with DBS Bank’s Taipei Branch. At the same time, CHIMEI is officially onboarded with Climate Impact X (CIX), a global exchange and marketplace for quality carbon credits, jointly established by the DBS Group, Singapore Exchange and Temasek, etc. CHIMEI is one of the early Taiwanese corporates to join CIX in their bid to drive positive impact together with DBS.

DBS Taiwan is leading the industry in launching NTD green deposits for corporate customers. As of the end of March, a total of 10 companies have responded positively and made deposits valued at an estimated NT$ 4 billion. Amongst the companies, CHIMEI Corporation has made a NT$1 billion green deposit to DBS Bank’s Taipei Branch, the largest one to date for the branch, as a source of funding for green loans and sustainability linked loans.

Tony Luo, Head of Institutional Banking Group at DBS Taiwan, pointed out that sustainability is a key development strategy for DBS and the bank continues to leverage its financial expertise to empower companies to integrate sustainability with business operations. DBS Taiwan is actively working closely with its customers to implement sustainability through financial products such as sustainability linked loans and green deposits. Through green deposits, companies not only provide capital for sustainable development, but also enjoy exclusive green deposit rates. This is a great way to incorporate sustainability initiatives into a company’s strategic planning, as well as demonstrate the organization’s focus on sustainable development, hence DBS Taiwan is excited to see more companies responding positively.

In addition to investing in green deposits, CHIMEI Corporation is also one of the pioneer Taiwanese members at CIX, a global exchange and marketplace for quality carbon credits, jointly established by the DBS Group, Singapore Exchange and Temasek, etc.

CIX has developed a range of platforms to serve the diverse needs of buyers and suppliers. The Project Marketplace platform provides content rich project information on various nature-based projects; the Auction platform brings together groups of buyers to bid for specific projects or curated portfolio of projects; and the spot Exchange platform caters to faster trading of standardized contracts for multinational corporations and institutional investors, with real time data for managing price risk.

Mikkel Larsen, CEO of Climate Impact X, said that CIX is encouraged to see Taiwanese corporates joining the CIX community, demonstrating commitment to climate mitigation with focus on quality carbon credits. CIX will initially be focused on natural climate solutions (e.g. protection and restoration of natural ecosystems such as forests, wetlands and mangroves) and gradually expand its offerings to include tech removals and other non-nature based carbon projects.

With a longstanding focus on decarbonisation, CHIMEI Corporation partnered with suppliers to complete the world’s first carbon-neutral transport of butadiene in August 2021 to support nature conservation.

In recent years, CHIMEI has adopted the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) to support sustainable development. Besides the avoidance of investments in high pollution, gambling, alcohol, tobacco, and other morally questionable industries, last year (2021), CHIMEI included ESG (Environmental, Social & Governance) factors into their investment analysis of potential portfolio. Recently, the firm ventured into innovative green finance. Apart from investing in green bonds issued by the wind power industry, national utilities, and financial industry, CHIMEI also acquired green deposit from DBS bank Taipei Branch.

To date, CHIMEI has invested over NT$3 billion in green finance products. Going forward, CHIMEI’s investments will continue to emphasize the development of green innovations and partnerships with financial partners, with global focus on ESG topics.