Taiwan is the second greenest equity market in the Asia-Pacific, according to the latest Morningstar Sustainability Ratings released early this month by the Chicago-headquartered investment research and management firm.
 
Among the 46 major equity markets around the world surveyed in the annual report, Taiwan moved ahead of Japan, South Korea and the U.S. to trail only Australia in the region. The first three spots on the global list went to Portugal, Denmark and Finland in that order.
 
“Taiwan notably moved up the rankings into the globe’s second quantile, owing to the strong sustainability profile of Taiwan Semiconductor [Manufacturing Co. Ltd.], the largest index constituent,” the report said. Based in northern Taiwan’s Hsinchu City, TSMC is the world’s largest contract semiconductor manufacturing firm.
 
Among the ratings’ three pillars, Taiwan is placed in the second best quantile in social scores, third in environmental scores and fourth in governance scores, with the survey praising the country as the highest-ranking emerging market when it comes to the overall scores.
 
Launched in early 2016, the ratings gauge equity market indexes using company-level environmental, social and governance as well as controversy scores and divide them into five quintiles. The country indexes comprise 97 percent of global market capitalization. (SFC-E)

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