The whole world is paying close attention to the issue of climate change and Taiwan cannot sit on the sidelines. We are a people-oriented insurance company that not only protects our policyholders, but also ensures the sustainable development of our homeland. Thus, we support the government's carbon reduction policies and hope to utilize our core competencies to minimize the impact of our business processes on the environment, ensuring that Taiwan can achieve a sustainable development.
Cathay Life Insurance established the Responsible Property Investment and Management Policy to ensure a mutually beneficial relationship with the environment. All of our new buildings use eco-friendly, energy efficient designs based on the standards of green buildings, such as: Higher coverage of greenery, lower water consumption, and lower carbon emissions. We also included solar panels and rainwater filtering systems into the evaluations for real estate development. This not only increased the efficiency of resource consumption, but also created a friendly and comfortable workplace, as well as a sustainable urban space. As of 2021, Cathay Life Insurance has a total of 17 green buildings and 21 green building certificates.
In compliance with the "Cathay FHC Environmental and Energy Policy," Cathay Life began implementing energy and environmental management systems (ISO 14001 and ISO 50001) in buildings with high electricity consumption since 2013. Each year, equipment maintenance and replacement is carried out based on the service life and energy consumption of the equipment, which lowers the amount of electricity required for each operation.
In 2021, by updating to LED lights, replacing desktop computers with laptops, and air conditioning equipment renewal, we reduce approximately 1,601 metric tons of carbon emissions.
Considering the energy structure in Taiwan and global trends in carbon reduction, Cathay Life Insurance actively supports the government's renewable energy policies by using renewable energy and reducing overall carbon emissions. In 2021, we made a commitment to the RE 100 global initiative, vowing to use 100% renewable electricity at our headquarters by 2025 and all operating locations in Taiwan by 2030.
Cathay Life Insurance has engaged in green operations and green finance for years, and hopes to lead by example by exerting its influence on environmental sustainability. Furthermore, our suppliers, employees, and policyholders are all indispensable. We hope to work with all sectors in environmental protection, and continue down the path towards a sustainable homeland.
Cathay Life Insurance leads by example and was the first to establish a Sustainable Procurement Policy and Sustainable Procurement Promotion Process, which clearly states that green eco-friendly products must be given priority during procurement, e.g., purchasing FSC certified paper and using eco-friendly soy ink to print documents. In 2018, we began complying with ISO 20400 Sustainable Procurement – Guidance and passed the BSI examination, becoming the first financial institution in the world to obtain this certification. The amount of our green procurements was approximately NT$120 million in 2021.
With believes in growing together with suppliers, Cathay Life formulated policies to support eco-friendly suppliers with our buying power, and also periodically provided them with our practical experience to become more sustainable together. We organized two corporate sustainability sharing events in 2019; a total of 162 companies participated in these events, which invited outstanding companies to share their practical approaches. In 2021, we've review all suppliers who have signed the Cathay FHC's Statement of Sustainability Values, hoping to collaborate with suppliers to implement corporate sustainability and strengthen their risk management.
Cathay Life invites employees and policyholders to participate in environmental activities. We want to raise the public’s environmental awareness by educating them through our activities. In order to show our determination to protect the environment, we must start by understanding the relevant issues and continue with actions related to the development of environmental sustainability.
To expand the effect of the green economy and reduce the carbon footprint of insurance services, we began collaborating with GoShare, a scooter-sharing platform, in August 2021, to offer rides at discounted rates. Through this event, employees were able to travel for business or to attend their everyday appointments while protecting the environment and reducing carbon emissions. Over 3,000 trips were completed in five months via the scooter-sharing platform, accumulating a total distance of more than 15,000 km.
Cathay Life Insurance has actively responded to Article 19 of the Environmental Education Act, which states that employees should attend at least 4 hours of environmental education. In 2021, all employees have accumulated more than 130,000 hours.
