Environment and Development Foundation
In 1992, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) of the Republic of China (ROC) initiated the Green Mark eco-labeling program and commissioned the Center for Pollution Control Technologies (CPCT) of the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) to be responsible for its implementation, which turned out to be very successful.Under the request of EPA, ITRI decided to spin-off CPCT to form an independent non-governmental organization, the Environment and Development Foundation (EDF).The spin-off process was completed in 1997, after ITRI donated 5 million New Taiwan dollars as the start-up fund and transferred the required technology to EDF.It was hoped that as a small and lean NGO, EDF would be able to participate in international environmental affairs actively, operate efficiently, and achieve financial independent in a short term.
At present, EDF provides environmental certification and consulting services to all interested parties, including government, businesses and consumers in Taiwan. Almost 90% of its operational funding comes from government projects.EDF’s main office is located in the Open Laboratory of ITRI’s Hsinchu campus in northern Taiwan, with a liaison office within the Science and TechnologyBuilding in Taipei.
EDF- An environmental NGO which provides professional environmental services
The mission of EDF is to promote the co-existence of economic/industrial development and environmental protection in Taiwan.To fulfill this mission, EDF’s personnel, with the exception of administrative staff, are comprised mostly of professionals with educational background in environmental science and related engineering disciplines.If necessary, EDF can also acquire the support of thousands of technical experts in its parent organization, ITRI.Such strength in technical expertise is EDF’s unique characteristic when compared with other environmental NGOs in Taiwan.
EDF offers services in the following three areas:
1. Certification of Green Products
Currently, EDF operates the Green Mark eco-labeling program and the USEPA-initiated Energy Star labeling program for the ROC-EPA. It also provides technical consultancy to the Architecture and Building Research Institute to implement its Green Building Material Labelling Scheme. The main objectives of these programs are to select and certify products with outstanding environmental/energy performance/resource saving, and award them with environmental/energy/recycing labels to increase consumer awareness, in order to increase their market share and reduce overall environmental impacts.
As the Taiwanese manufacturers often receive requests from the product importing countries to demonstrate the product’s environmental characteristics, EDF decided to offer the certification service for product environmental claims in 1998.The purpose of offering this service is to certify the suitability of a product’s environmental claim based on an open and transparent process, so that misleading product environmental claim can be prevented.It is hoped that by offering this service, EDF will be able to provide more assistance to government agencies, corporations and consumers interested in purchasing green products, and more green products can be made available to the market.
More information with regard to EDF’s service in this area can be obtained from the website of EDF at http://www.edf.org.tw/, or websites of Green Mark program: http://www.greenmark.org.tw/ and Energy Star program: http://www.energystar.org.tw/
2. Promotion of Green Consumption and Local Initiatives
Besides operating the Green Mark and Energy Star eco-labeling programs for the ROC-EPA, EDF also works on other EPA and local environmental protection bureaus’ (EPB) projects, such as the Greening of the Office Campaign, Recycling and Reuse of Kitchen Residue, Community Environmental Service Corps, and Recycling Scheme for Military Agencies, etc.EDF is also instrumental in the drafting of ROC government’s green procurement clause in the “Government Procurement Law”.The reason for EDF’s active involvement in these projects is the hope to change consumers’ consumption mode, reduce resource consumption and minimize pollution emissions through project implementation. The most recent activity in this area is the formation of a new Green Purchasing Alliance, together with another four private organizations in Taiwan, to promote green procurement into the business sectors. Further information can be found from http://www.greens.org.tw
3. Dissemination/Gathering of International Environmental Information and Pursuit of International Cooperation
Due to the prevalence of free trade and globalization, the environmental impacts from products and services are increasingly globalized.The capability to reduce environmental impacts due to globalization has also become an important indicator to determine the sustainability of a corporation or a nation.Therefore, many multi-national corporations have started to place emphasis on the environmental performance of their suppliers and subsidiaries. Among them, there are many Taiwanese corporations. Since its inception, EDF has made a great deal of effort to establish cooperative relationships with many international NGOs or corporations, in order to track the global environmental trends and gather relevant environmental information, and has resulted in considerable achievements.EDF has also been providing assistance to Taiwanese corporations to help them comply with the increased environmental requirements and prevent the formation of unnecessary trade barrier. Through its cooperative relationships with international organizations, EDF has acquired extensive experience in trade and environment issues, and has help implement the “Studies on the Relationship between International Trade & Environment Issues” commissioned by EPA, and “Research on Environmental Review of Trade Agreements” commissioned by the Bureau of Foreign Trade.
EDF has always strived to maintain its dual role as a certifier of product environmental claims and a promoter of green consumption and local initiatives since it was founded in 1997.In the future, it will also endeavor to expand its involvement in international cooperation activities in order to increase its impact on ROC’s environmental affairs.EDF sincerely solicit comments and assistance to its present pursuits in order to continuously improve its services and be able to generate greater environmental benefits.