This week, the Faculty of Law of Vilnius University hosted Professor Pei-Fen Chen from Institute of China and Asia-Pacific Studies, National Sun Yat-sen University, Taiwan. Today, she gave a lecture on “Comparison of Green Financial Development and Policy in Taiwan and the EU”, organised by Dr Rita Remeikienė, to the Vilnius University community.
The visit was a great opportunity to hear her impressions of Lithuania and Vilnius and to discuss several issues related to her research area.
You say you have been in Lithuania for three months. How has it been? Do you like it here?
The first thing I noticed is when I walk outside, I see many young people. That’s a little different from Taiwan because we have aging problems.
Actually, in Lithuania, we have that too. You might not notice because in Vilnius there are more young people, but if you go to smaller towns in Lithuania, it’s also mostly older people.
Ah, I see. In Taiwan, if I went to a café at this time, I’d mostly see retired people. But here I see a lot of young people, especially university students. In fact, Taiwan has the second-lowest birth rate in the world. So, seeing many young people in Vilnius is refreshing—and you’re all so tall, I envy that! People here are nice to me, and I think this is a bilingual country. Most people speak English. Buying things at the grocery store can be more challenging, but everyday living and transportation are very easy for me.
What caused you to come to Lithuania? What was the reason?
The reason is based on my friendship with Dr. Rita Remeikienė. I’ve known her for about five years, and we’ve been talking online. Last year, she mentioned an opportunity to invite visiting scholars here. We’ve been doing research together, so we have topics to collaborate on. She applied for funding for me, and that’s why I’m here. As an economist, it’s quite interesting to be doing research in the Faculty of Law instead of the Faculty of Business or Economics.
Your field of research is Green Finance. Could you tell us more about it?
Europe, and indeed the whole world, is now focusing more on renewable energy production. The primary reason is to reduce carbon emissions. Green finance refers to financial institutions funding green projects or businesses. That’s essentially what green finance is.
What is the situation in Taiwan regarding the development of green finance? What has been done in that area in Taiwan?
Taiwan is largely excluded from the Paris Agreement, possibly due to political reasons. However, we’ve committed ourselves to contribute to global carbon reduction efforts. We’ve created our own policies for green regulations and carbon emission reduction. We have several policies with lengthy names. These include “Taiwan’s Pathway and Strategies for Achieving Net Zero Emission,” the “Green Finance Action Plan,” the “Renewable Energy Development Act,” and “Operation Directions for Sustainable Bonds.” These guide our contribution to global efforts. Taiwan has very advanced technology, so we can help in many ways, especially with our high-tech expertise. It’s unfortunate that we’re excluded from many international agreements.
And also, what have you observed about the situation of green finance in Lithuania, especially in the area of legal regulation, if you know about that?
I think Lithuania has been doing well. It’s following the overall direction of the EU, which aims to be the first region to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. Lithuania has been aligning its actions with EU directives. However, from my limited research here, I’ve noticed there are multiple authorities guiding various policies. I’m not sure how effective this is, but I believe you’re doing your best to stay on the same path as the EU’s advancements.
And what do you think Lithuania could do to improve in this area?
I’m not entirely sure yet. That’s a very complex question.
So maybe less regulation, fewer of those authorities that you mentioned, perhaps?
Yes, I think there should be a unified authority or at least better horizontal communication among the existing authorities.
How are your research areas changing in the context of the EU Green Course strategy?
I hope the EU can consider Taiwan’s potential to contribute to these significant issues. Apart from political concerns, I feel that in developing green projects or plans—like the European Green Deal—Taiwan could play a role. These are substantial projects, and if they require advanced technologies, Taiwan’s capabilities could be valuable.
What do you think are the biggest differences and maybe the biggest similarity between those two, if you had to summarize?
I think Taiwan’s financial market and banking industry are significantly smaller than European banks. This size difference means we approach things differently. Although our domestic banks’ clients are mostly in the global supply chain, so we’re essentially doing international business, our financial authority has been conservative about bank expansion due to our long-standing isolation. Currently, Taiwan’s green finance is primarily focused on financing our biggest clients: offshore wind power companies. These are international companies from Denmark and other European countries. Since we don’t have offshore wind generation technology ourselves, we invite these companies to invest in Taiwan, set up facilities, and we learn from them how to generate offshore wind power.