WNC, NTU and WRA to Plant Native Taiwan Saplings Alongside the Zhuoshui River on Earth Day

Hsinchu, April 20, 2023 –This Earth Day, April 22, Wistron NeWeb Corp. (WNC) will begin the planting of native Taiwan saplings by the side of the Zhuoshui River to create the WNC Forest Park. This initiative is part of WNC’s commitment to environmental action in Taiwan. In attendance will be WNC’s Chairman Haydn Hsieh, President & CEO Jeffrey Gau and upwards of 100 senior managers, in addition to Director Lee Youe-ping of the Fourth River Management Office under the Water Resources Agency (WRA) of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Xiluo Township Chief Liao Chui-ping, and Director Tsai Ming-jer, head of the National Taiwan University (NTU) Experimental Forest. Together they will take part in an inauguration ceremony for the WNC Forest Park.    

WNC, in cooperation with the WRA, the Fourth River Management Office, Xiluo Township Office, the School of Forestry and Resource Conservation at NTU, and NTU’s Experimental Forest team, will plant 2,480 native Taiwan saplings on the left bank of the Zhuoshui River near the Xiluo Bridge. It is anticipated that these 1.4 hectares of forest will ameliorate the dust and haze brought to local residents every year by the northeastern monsoon. In addition to improving the quality of life of local residents the project will also contribute to carbon fixation and habitat renewal. WNC’s Chairman Haydn Hsieh expressed, “The whole world is concerned with the impact of climate change and it is the responsibility of all businesses to do their bit in addressing these concerns. WNC is actively promoting carbon reduction initiatives with a view to working together with society in pursuit of sustainable development. We would like to express our deep gratitude for the expert advice of NTU’s Experimental Forest, and the assistance of the WRA, the Fourth River Management Office and the Xiluo Township Office.”        

The trees we selected for this project are camphor, Formosan ash, Formosan sweetgum, Taiwan beech, Taiwan incense cedar, and Buddhist pine, all native trees of Taiwan that are drought resistant and can serve as wind breaks. In addition to carbon fixation and erosion prevention this tree planting initiative is also of great benefit in the ongoing reintroduction of native Taiwan trees. Director Tsai said, “This project has great meaning to NTU’s Experimental Forest. We hope that our team can begin a long period of observation of the ecology and forest physiognomy of the Zhuoshui River high bank areas. In this project with WNC we have planted only native Taiwan trees that have drought resistant, windproofing and carbon fixation properties. After ten years we can expect to see effective windproofing as well as erosion and dust reduction effects. The WNC Forest Park’s carbon fixation, looked at over a 20-year timeline, should fix 14 tonnes of carbon annually and will achieve maximum effect 20 to 30 years from now.”      

The WNC Forest Park is located near the Zhuoshui River Cultural Park. Ecological survey reports show that the area is a habitat for house swifts, black-naped blue flycatchers, red turtle doves, Swinhoe's tree lizards, and category three protected species the brown shrike and the Taiwan beauty snake. WNC’s President & CEO Jeffrey Gau expressed, “Forests have the ability to rapidly absorb carbon dioxide in large quantities. The WNC Forest Park, in addition to serving as a carbon fixer, will also be a shining example of human-nature coexistence. It will not just be a wind break preventing erosion, but will also be a protector of bio-diversity as well as a spot for local residents to enjoy nature.”

WNC hopes to inspire its employees to implement sustainability initiatives in their daily lives. The WNC Forest Park is a part of this. WNC’s Chief Sustainability Officer Molly Lin said, “In its ESG development WNC integrates internal and external resources and sets related implementation objectives. In terms of carbon reduction initiatives, apart from creating the WNC Forest Park to boost carbon fixation, we have set a GHG emission intensity reduction target of 50% by 2030 based on a 2019 baseline. Additionally, 2030 is the target year to achieve a 50% ratio of renewable energy use. In order to achieve these objectives we are encouraging employees to incorporate sustainability concepts in their daily work, pushing green design concepts, renewable energy planning and carbon reduction advocacy, and creating sustainable supply chains. This will enable us to expand our green influence in the upstream and downstream of our industry and work toward sustainable development for not just WNC but the world.”