Secretariat, Taipei City Government

On the afternoon of November 30, 2021, the Trade Council of Denmark, Taipei; the Finland Trade Center in Taiwan; the Swedish Trade and Invest Council; and the Taipei City Government jointly held the 2021 Nordic Sustainable Energy and Environment Forum at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Taipei. The opening ceremony was cohosted by Danish representative in Taiwan Bo Mønsted, Finnish representative in Taiwan Mikko Karppinen, and Swedish representative in Taiwan Bengt G. Carlsson. Taipei City Mayor Ko Wen-Je had recorded a video to greet all participants, share the city government’s goals and results of promoting sustainable development, and thank the three attending councils for their efforts to provide a platform for communication and information sharing for the industrial, governmental, and academic sectors in Taiwan and Northern Europe despite the challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
Since 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic has been severely affecting the global economy and society, forcing each government and enterprise to implement sustainable development and transformation initiatives to strengthen the government’s crisis response capacity. According to the international organization Robeco, in 2021, the four Northern European countries of Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and Norway ranked highest in national sustainable development. Northern European countries are leading in sustainable development initiatives. The public and private sectors are both dedicated to developing sustainable solution projects that are conducive to strengthening resource utilization efficiency, reducing carbon emission and environmental damage, and increasing quality of life and overall industry competitiveness.
 
This 2021 Nordic Sustainable Energy and Environment Forum marked the second time that the Taipei City Government had been invited to cohost the forum. This forum was held both online and on site and focused on the topics of “Green Mobility” and “Water and Air Quality Management.” During the meeting, the Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Transportation of the Taipei City Government presented the “Taipei City Resource Recycling and Reuse Plan” and “Taipei City Green Transportation Plan,” respectively, to share the policies and measures of sustainable development in Taipei City. Five companies from Northern Europe also introduced their sustainable solutions. Finland’s MaaS Global described the development and application of Mobility as a Service for public transportation. Denmark’s Danfoss introduced electric power and smart control solutions for ships and ferries. The Swedish company Camfil presented a project for increasing the energy efficiency of industrial, commercial, and residential buildings and improving indoor air quality. Finnish company UROS detailed a solution plan using the Internet of Things to monitor city water resources. Denmark’s Grundfos described their application of smart pumps in the creation of a high-efficiency and energy-conserving water system.
 
Experts from the industrial, governmental, and academic sectors in Taiwan and these Northern European countries were invited to participate and discuss sustainable development plans at this forum. In the future, all parties involved could hold more cooperative exchanges regarding sustainable industry. The three councils hope that this event can serve as an information exchange platform between Taiwan and Northern European countries, in which experts from the most competitive sustainable development–related industries in Taiwan attend, with all parties striving to promote greater technology exchange and industry cooperation.