Sustainable performance of Taiwanese manufacturing industries over the past decade (2006-2015)

Abstract

There has been a worldwide trend to mitigate greenhouse gas (CO2) emissions in a bid to combat climate change by developing new technologies on energy saving and renewable energy, and Taiwan is no exception. This study focuses on this important environmental and economic issue and proposes a sustainable performance model to investigate the performance behavior of Taiwanese manufacturing industries after the Kyoto protocol went into effect in 2005. We observe that sustainable performance during the past decade has risen slightly due to the effectiveness of energy-saving technologies and low-carbon energy structures. These two are effective strategies for guiding manufacturing industries with large quantity of CO2 emissions to improve their production activities, especially in the reduction of fossil fuel usage. Keep in mind that currently electricity portfolio in Taiwan is still dependent on coal combustion, though renewable energy is gaining its momentum starting this decade, and is integral to the future of the energy supply planning to pursue sustainable environment proposed by Taiwan government.