Determining the Company's core sustainability management issues
WT has sustainable policies and initiatives for environmental, social, corporate governance, economic and trade compliance which were voluntarily formulated Sustainable Development Team and subsequently approved and published by the Chairman of the Board under authorization of the Board of Directors.
The Senior Vice President Kerry Hsu was appointed as Chief Corporate Governance Officer by the Board of Directors in 2019, and the Chief Application Officer Dr. Willie Sun as Chief Sustainability Officer when the ESG Sustainable Development Team was founded in 2021. On October 28, 2022, the ESG implementation results and the plan for 2023 were presented to the Board. To implement the Company’s sustainable development vision, the sustainability strategic goals and management guidelines were drawn up under supervision of the Board, and a review plan to be made as needed. From 2022, the GHG inventory results and finalized sustainability report are set to be regularly presented to the Board. Climate governance, which has become indispensable for WT’s operations since the introduction of the Climate Change Financial Disclosure (TCFD) project, will also be regularly brought to the Board.
Sustainable governance-related items brought to the Board of Directors
WT follows the GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards for reporting principles to manage sustainability issues. Major stakeholders were identified, material issues determined, and the organizational boundary defined through a five-step engagement process in compliance with the principles of stakeholder inclusiveness, sustainability context, materiality, and completeness.
Strategies and practices to cope with the impact of material sustainability issues
WT has procedures in place requiring the policy, planning and implementation of specific matters in the course of operation to be, regularly or occasionally, presented or submitted for discussion to the Board of Directors. For example, the Rules of Procedure for Board of Directors’ Meetings Articles 10 and 12 and the Corporate Governance Best Practice Principles Articles 25 and 35 clearly stipulate the types of matters that must be discussed or resolved by the Board of Directors. The Sustainable Development Best Practice Principles Article 8 requires the proposals and implementation of sustainable development policies, systems, management guidelines, and specific roll-out plans to be presented to the Board of Directors on an occasional basis. In addition, the Ethical Corporate Management Best Practice Principles and the Procedures for Ethical Management and Guidelines for Conduct specify that the formulation of ethical operation policies and prevention plans, any major violations determined by investigation, or any major losses caused to the Company must be presented to the Board of Directors.
According to applicable laws and regulations or internal procedures, items need to be adopted by resolution of the Board of Directors are submitted for ”discussion,” while those do not require to adopted by resolution of the Board are submitted for “presentation”. After being signed and approved by senior management, an item is added to the agenda of next Board meeting by Stock Affairs Unit for the Board of Directors to make a resolution in the case of a discussion item, or raise questions or made suggestions in the case of a presentation item. From 2022, GHG inventory and finalized sustainability report are required to be regularly presented to the Board of Directors. Climate governance, which has become indispensable for WT’s operations since the introduction of the Climate Change Financial Disclosure (TCFD) project, will also be regularly brought to the Board. In 2023, factors such as the impact type and degree of existing sustainability issues will be reviewed to assess and revise the scope of major impacts of existing procedures, and major environmental and social impacts will come under the supervision of Board of Directors. WT’s Board of Directors adopted a total of 57 major resolutions in 2022, which have all been published on the WT official website (Major Resolutions of Board Meetings).
