Taipei Exchange

For the purpose of promoting Taiwan green bond market and aligning with global development, Taipei Exchange amended “Taipei Exchange Operational Directions for Green Bonds” with reference to the market trends and international green bond market practices.

As of March 4, 2021, the outstanding amount of Taiwan green bond market reached NTD 151.26 billion, with 49 tranches. Not only the scale of issuance is growing year by year, but also the range of issuers and products is diversifying. In order to reduce the cost of issuance and enhance the information disclosure transparency, Taipei Exchange has amended “Operational Directions for Green Bonds”. The key points of this amendment include the combination of green investment projects and fund use plan into green bond investment plan, specifying that green investment plans shall principally not include fossil fuel power generation projects, disclosing more information in prospectus, making it mandatory for issuers to publicly disclose green bond investment plans and external opinions or certification reports, and relaxing the flexibility in the timing for issuers to make announcements on the use of funds, in line with international practice.

Taipei Exchange pointed out that as ESG issues attracting increasing attention, green bonds have strong potential for future growth. The amendments this time will make the domestic green bond mechanism more consistent with the international market practices, which increase the willingness of foreign issuers to issue green bonds in Taiwan and feasibility of multi-listing. Taipei Exchange will continue to track the development of international standards, review and adjust relevant provisions in due course.