At the 26th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP26), held in November 2021, Tuvalu’s minister of justice, communication, and foreign affairs presented a prerecorded speech filmed standing knee-deep in ­water, to call the world’s attention to how urgent the problem of rising sea levels has become.

Not just an environmental issue

Since the 19th century, the ongoing process of industrialization has brought economic growth, but has also triggered massive releases of greenhouse gases, which trap solar radiation in the Earth’s atmosphere. This is causing temperatures at the Earth’s surface to rise.

The melting of polar and glacial ice is causing sea ­levels to rise, exposing island nations and low-lying coastal areas to increased risk of flooding. According to Dr. Alan Lin, deputy executive director of the Executive Yuan’s Office of Energy and Carbon ­Reduction, there is a connection between greenhouse gases and the ­frequent occurrence of heatwaves, droughts, and flooding throughout the world in recent years. “To put it simply, our climate is messed up.” California wildfires that normally don’t happen until the autumn are now starting up in June. Taiwan had almost no typhoons in 2020, which led to rare drought conditions in 2021. Climate change is taking place everywhere, and no country can dodge it.

The latest figures released at COP26 indicate that the global mean temperature is now 1.1°C above the pre-­industrial level. In response, leaders at COP26 adopted a target of limiting global warming to 1.5°C above the pre-industrial level.

Carbon dioxide accounts for the largest share of greenhouse gas emissions. For this reason, lowering carbon emissions to achieve carbon neutrality has become an important focus of climate action. Apple, Amazon, TSMC, and many more of the world’s leading corporations have declared their intention to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, and are also calling upon the firms in their supply chains to work with them to achieve joint targets. “Therefore,” says Lin, “net zero and carbon neutrality are no longer just environmental issues. They also have a bearing on a country’s economic competitiveness and its national development strategy.”

Net-zero carbon emissions is increasingly being recognized internationally as a critical goal, and Taiwan has long been working to address climate change.

Dr. Alan Lin, deputy executive director of the Executive Yuan’s Office of Energy and Carbon Reduction, warns that net zero has a bearing on a country’s economic competitiveness, so we can’t afford any delay on climate action.

Green action by Taiwan’s SMEs

Now that multinational corporations are on the move to achieve net-zero emissions, even small and medium-­sized enterprises (SMEs) in Taiwan have started to take action. The law firm of Winkler Partners, for example, achieved carbon neutrality in 2020.

Winkler Partners is located in a commercial property in downtown Taipei. As you enter through the firm’s front doors, potted plants greet the eye and birds can be heard chirping in an inner courtyard. The company is short on the nervous tension one associates with a place of business, and long on a cozy feeling of closeness to nature.

Winkler Partners occupies the top two floors of its office building, with the upper floor perched in a stylish loft arrangement above the lower floor. One flight of stairs up from there is the rooftop, where the firm has a garden of about 70 square meters that the employees maintain themselves by way of adoption. They use no agro­chemicals, and organic fertilizers are generated through onsite composting of the office’s kitchen waste and coffee grounds in an environ­mentally friendly opera­tion that reduces waste. On the day of our visit, we find butterflies and honeybees buzzing all around the garden’s yellow zucchinis, figs, chrysanthemums, and honeysuckle.

Next to the garden, a bank of rooftop solar panels provides a shady space for relaxation while keeping the offices below from baking in direct sunlight. About 18–20% of the electric power consumed by Wink­ler is generated by these panels. The firm seeks to ultimately transition to 100% green energy, and with this goal in mind it entered into a power purchase agreement in 2020 with Foxwell Power, a green energy supplier. Over 80% of Winkler’s power consumption is currently accounted for by green energy, while the shortfall is either met through the purchase of Taiwan Renewable Energy Certificates (T-RECs) or offset by the planting of trees.

Attorney Peter Dernbach, a partner at Winkler, is passionate about Taiwan’s natural environment. He has decided to settle here long-term and pursue carbon reduction as a means of communicating the concept of carbon neutrality to international corporations and organizations.

A new take on carbon reduction

When asked how Winkler Partners first got started with climate action, partner Peter Dernbach ­explains that US native Robin Winkler got the ball rolling when he founded Winkler Partners in 2002. Wink­ler set a goal of being a “model citizen” and the firm eventually hired a “green officer” to run its internal green office program.

Mr. City Shen, who serves as green officer at Wink­ler Partners, advises companies wanting to achieve carbon neutrality to first understand their own energy consumption by inspecting gas and electricity bills: “For example, let’s say you use 10,000 kWh of electric power per month. Okay, so you step it down to 9000 and then 8000 kWh. The process is what matters. You keep reducing until you can’t reduce any further, and then you find a new way that’s even more effective.”

For example, after a greenhouse gas inventory revealed that half of all Winkler Partners’ carbon emissions derived from electric power consumption, the firm began steadily replacing its old air-conditioning and lighting equipment with more energy-­efficient products. In its training program for new hires, Wink­ler also familiarizes them with the firm’s philosophy. Over time, employees have gotten into the habit of turning off lights, computer monitors, and power strips to conserve electricity. These methods alone had already cut power consumption by 60% even before Wink­ler installed ­solar panels and entered into its green energy purchase agreement.

Switching to energy-efficient products would seem to involve extra expense, but Winkler Partners looks at it from a different angle. If you assume a price of NT$5 per kWh, then the cost of 10,000 kWh comes to NT$50,000. Cutting power consumption by 60% thus means a monthly savings of NT$30,000. Over the long haul, the switch to energy-efficient products pays for itself.

Winkler Partners’ rooftop vegetable garden, tended by employees, enables the firm to reduce power consumption and carbon emissions. It also provides a valuable urban habitat for birds.

Carbon neutrality as the new normal

As a certified B Corporation that has achieved ­carbon neutrality and joined the Greenpeace RE 10x10 renewable energy initiative, Winkler Partners has become something of a mecca for environmental activists. The firm is frequently visited by domestic government agencies and schools as well as groups from Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and elsewhere.

Winkler Partners recently entered into a tie-up with Zero Emission Mobility (ZEMO), a Taiwanese startup company that provides electric vehicles to carry customers on pre-scheduled trips, such as picking up children from school. At Winkler, it’s a form of employee benefit that reduces the usage of vehicles powered by internal combustion engines. In addition, Winkler Partners orders in meals for employees under a program in which an employee’s own meal container is first sent to the restaurant, which fills the container with a vegetarian meal made from locally produced foods. This arrangement reduces the use of throw-away meal containers, supports community-based restaurants and small farmers, promotes employee health, and helps to preserve the natural ­environment.

Peter Dernbach notes that by achieving carbon neutrality, companies are compensating for the damage they do to the environment. But if companies donate to organiza­tions that engage in climate action, it’s not just to “offset negative impact” but to actually have a ­positive influence.

Taiwan has a great variety of soils, vegetables, and fruits, and a culturally rich society. Board a Metro train pretty much anywhere in Taipei and within 30 minutes you can be hiking in the mountains. When Dernbach first came to Taiwan from the US years ago, these were the things he found especially endearing. Taiwan has afforded him the ability to practice law while simul­taneously caring for the land under his feet. That’s what attracted him to Winkler Partners and has kept him in Taiwan long-term.

Environmental sustainability is ingrained in Wink­ler’s DNA, and has informed the firm’s ongoing pursuit of excellence. Says Dernbach: “Carbon neutrality is not our ultimate goal. It should simply be our new ­normal.” 

As well as creating a green office, Winkler Partners has taken part in an afforestation project run by the Taiwan Forestry Bureau, planting a swatch of forest in Taipei’s Xindian District. (courtesy of Winkler Partners)

Winkler Partners’ actions to achieve carbon neutrality include energy conservation measures and installing rooftop solar panels. Winkler has never flagged in its commitment to environmentally friendly business practices.