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China Airlines Takes Action on Extreme Weather by Publishing the Only TCFD Independent Report in Taiwan’s Transportation Sector

Published: May 11, 2022

China Airline has published a second edition of its independent report for Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) this year in response to the international trend on carbon reduction and to take action on climate risk. The TCFD process was used to simulate and study the potential risk scenarios from extreme climate, as well as strengthen related corporate management capabilities on financial response and decision-making. In addition to being the first airline in Taiwan to embrace this initiative, China Airlines was the only airline in Taiwan to have published an independent report over two consecutive years and set a new milestone for the sustainable development of Taiwan’s airline industry.


Recognizing the close relationship between airline operations and climate topics, China Airlines joined the global TCFD initiative in 2018. An inter-departmental TCFD task force was also formed to incorporate global climate risk and transformation factors into our corporate risk management mechanism. The four guiding principles of governance, strategy, risk management, and metrics are employed to identify physical and transformational climate risks and opportunities. Continuous monitoring of carbon emissions and climate risks from global operations help strengthen the resilience of China Airlines in the face of extreme climate and its associated changes in the commercial and regulatory environments. Internal and outside experts are also invited every year to jointly review, report to the Board of Directors, and continuously update our public reports as part of our corporate climate risk management process.


The second edition of the independent climate governance report released by China Airlines this year builds on the first edition by providing more information on corporate risk management. The five core carbon reduction strategies from Net-Zero Carbon Emissions by 2050 were also added. These include improvement of fuel efficiency, upgrading off TCFD process and emergency response system, promotion and adoption of Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF), participation in international carbon control schemes, introducing new technology for carbon reduction when appropriate, continuing to track internal and external risks, management of opportunity topics, and engagement with response capability to improve corporate climate governance; for example, response measures were devised prevention of flooding from heavy rainfall, or flights being rescheduled or diverted due to special weather conditions. By strengthening the response capability of each station, we can enhance the resilience and sustainable competitiveness of our operations.


China Airlines was the first transportation company in Taiwan to commit to Net- Zero Emissions by 2050 and the Carbon Reduction Roadmap. Phased carbon reduction targets and annual actions plan have also been set for flight and ground carbon emissions in response to international trends on carbon reduction and stakeholder expectations. More recently, the pioneering sustainability demonstration flight adopted up to a hundred innovative eco-friendly measures from fuel-saving routes, apron operations, online check-in to in-flight catering and amenities as part of our active efforts to conserve energy and cut carbon emissions.


Additionally, the China Airlines “ECO Travel Carbon Offsetting” service saw travelers offset 299.77 tons of carbon, the best of any Taiwanese airline over the same period. Mandarin Airlines and Tigerair Taiwan were also enrolled in this voluntary program for travelers in 2021, giving all travelers with China Airlines the opportunity to participate in and support international sustainability developments. We will strive to accomplish the global net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.


China Airlines contributes to environmental protection by fulfilling our social responsibility as an airline and investing in sustainable developments. We were the first air transportation company in Taiwan to introduce ISO 14001, ISO 50001 and ISO 14064-1. We also undergo independent third-party verification and certification every year. China Airlines is a long-time proponent of corporate sustainability and was the only Taiwanese company to be included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) for six consecutive years and as a constituent stock of the FTSE4Good Emerging Index. Other awards included the Taiwan Corporate Sustainability Award and Global Corporate Sustainability Award. Despite the challenges posed by COVID-19, China Airlines continued to spare no effort to promote of the developments in the Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) aspects to fulfill my resolution on sustainable management.