Taiwan’s 2022 12 Key Strategies in Transformation toward Net-zero and the 2023 Climate Change Response Act have, to a certain extent, mainstreamed the principles of “just transition” (JT) within its climate governance and legal framework. Processes of social dialogue have brought different stakeholder groups together and their perspectives have become references for Taiwan’s JT planning. The Executive Yuan is also expected to approve and issue in the first half of 2026 a National JT Action Plan, which will consist of various sectoral JT plans and outline the government’s JT strategies for the next three years, as Taiwan raises its climate ambitions under NDC 3.0.

Companies, which stand at the frontlines of the net-zero transition and serve as key decision-makers and implementers of various decarbonisation measures, have not played a significant role in Taiwan’s JT policy mechanism thus far.

As international sustainability benchmarks and disclosure frameworks increasingly strengthen their requirements for corporate just transition disclosure, whether companies take stakeholder needs into account, safeguard the rights and interests of workers and communities, and address potential employment impacts through concrete actions such as upskilling and reskilling has become determining factors of corporate low-carbon competitiveness.

This report reviews the comprehensiveness of just transition–related content in the most recent sustainability reports of seven key Taiwanese companies across the energy, cement, steel, and petrochemical sectors. We find that while Taiwanese firms have established stakeholder identification and engagement processes, the topics of engagement rarely address the impacts of their climate transition plans on stakeholders. Most companies have not analysed the skills required for their own transition pathways and the gaps that currently exist, which is reflected in the absence of just transition measures and indicators. Internal training and education programmes also tend to focus broadly on promoting net-zero, ESG, and digital transformation, rather than developing skills capacity-building measures in a more precise manner that addresses transition-related skills gaps.

Based on these assessment results, and drawing on recommendations from international organizations such as the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the Investor Group on Climate Change (IGCC), this report proposes five major corporate action directions for just transition, namely: (1) stakeholder engagement and social dialogue, (2) setting science-based, 1.5°C-aligned decarbonisation targets and transition plans, (3) conducting transition plan impact assessments and identifying skills gaps, (4) developing and implementing just transition plans, and (5) tracking progress and disclosing implementation outcomes.

Driving companies to take the kind of JT actions discussed in the previous chapter proactively takes not only the companies’ own decisions on sustainable governance and risk management but also various external levers. We attempt to capture these external forces through the conception of a ”Corporate JT ecosystem” and identify potential roles of key actors including the government, investors, financial institutions, and unions and workers.

Investors and the financial sector can guide capital toward companies that balance decarbonisation with social resilience through due diligence, engagement, and the design of financial instruments. The government must integrate relevant requirements into policy frameworks such as green finance, flagship decarbonisation programmes for state-owned enterprises, and green jobs development, while providing appropriate resources and enabling institutional conditions. Workers and unions can also proactively incorporate climate issues into regular labour-management dialogue, and turn the potentially negative impacts of transition into opportunities to advance green, decent work through green collective bargaining agreements. These external forces are indispensable in helping Taiwanese companies successfully transition in a more inclusive and equitable manner and maintain their competitiveness in global low-carbon markets.

You can find an abridged version of the report in English here: