National Chi Nan University (NCNU) held a general education lecture yesterday and invited Ambassador Eugene Chien (簡又新), Chairman of the Taiwan Institute for Sustainable Energy (TAISE), to talk about "The Opportunities and Challenges of Generation Z." In his speech, Ambassador Chien revealed that sustainable development brings new job opportunities. For example, the financial industry is actively recruiting Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) talents. The annual salary of associate-level ESG planners in Japan's sustainable finance industry could reach as high as NT $4,000,000. Major corporates and even universities have established sustainability departments and appointed managers in response to the global impact due to increased environmental protection costs and major financial and banking reforms.

To promote sustainable development and fulfill university social responsibilities, NCNU collaborated with TAISE in 2020, signed a Memorandum of Understanding on sustainable development, and jointly invested in promoting corporate sustainable development and implementing sustainable education at colleges and universities. Through NCNU's educational system and TAISE's public welfare operating mechanism, the two parties jointly assisted corporates in fulfilling their social responsibilities.

NCNU's President, Professor Wuu Dong-Sing (武東星), gave the opening remarks for the lecture and indicated that NCNU emphasizes the education concept of sustainable development and is deeply engaged in connecting with local areas, from technology to the comprehensive development of the environment, residents, communities, and South Asian regions. The University exercises the spirit of a green university, implements the United Nations' 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs), and is always committed to creating a green Shuishalian region. Although final exams were around the corner, the lecture was well-attended and well-received.

The Director of the General Education Center, Ta-Shu Chiang (江大樹), said that NCNU has long invested considerable efforts in the sustainable development of campuses and regions. In recent years, the school affairs have been more closely linked to the SDGs. Consequently, NCNU ranked 31st out of 956 universities in the 2021 UI GreenMetric World University Rankings. Under the wave of globalization, the promotion of sustainable development has become an undeniable responsibility for universities.

Ambassador Chien said that in the future, industries related to energy transition, such as electric vehicles, green energy (wind and solar), and zero-carbon buildings, will be new areas of knowledge with employment possibilities. He reminded NCNU students that in addition to developing independent thinking abilities, it is also necessary to establish a global perspective to consider the impact of climate change legislation on transportation, energy, agriculture, branding, international trade, fund investments, environmental litigation, carbon tax, and carbon fees after the current global climate change legislation is enacted.

Jung-Ho Ouyang (歐陽蓉荷), a Ph.D. student in the Department of Chinese Language and Literature, said that this was a thought-provoking speech. Twenty years ago, the awareness of environmental protection was slowly becoming the consensus of citizens, and now it has become a prominent trend globally. Future job opportunities, organizational governance, and even human rights and consumer issues will be closely related to sustainable development. The students who attended this lecture truly gained significant information.

Created Date

Fri, 01/14/2022 - 16:13