Corporate Climate Action in Practice: Tracking GHG Emission and Energy Performance Across Taiwanese Industries

¹ Accounting Department, Universitas Negeri Semarang, Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia
² Electrical Engineering Department, Universitas Negeri Semarang, Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia
³ Finance Department, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, Douliu, Taiwan

^* Corresponding author: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Abstract

This study investigates the alignment between corporate climate action efforts and environmental performance among Taiwanese listed companies from 2016 to 2023. Using firm-level data from the Taiwan Economic Journal (TEJ), it analyzes trajectories of GHG Emissions Scores (representing environmental outcomes) and Energy Management Scores (representing managerial and operational efforts) across industries with different carbon intensities. Sectors are categorized into high-carbon (e.g., petrochemicals, cement, steel, and power generation) and low-carbon (e.g., electronics, finance, and services) groups to capture structural variations in energy use. Results reveal a steady increase in energy management performance, indicating rising managerial attention to efficiency and sustainability, while GHG emission performance remains relatively stagnant. The weak correlation between the two dimensions suggests that enhanced managerial commitment does not consistently translate into measurable decarbonization. This effort-outcome gap reflects a broader challenge in corporate climate action: firms may improve internal systems and disclosures without achieving substantive emission reductions. The findings contribute to the climate transition discourse by providing sector- based evidence from Taiwan and emphasizing the need for integrated strategies that connect managerial efforts with tangible environmental outcomes.