S&P Global Sustainable1 supported an Asian stock exchange with sustainability performance analysis and benchmarking insights across listed companies.

The Client:

Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation

Users:

Sustainability and investor relations teams

Taiwan Sustainable Market

Global sustainable fund assets under management reached $4.13 trillion at year-end 2025, up 16.3% year over year. Investors evaluating companies through a sustainability lens have expanded materially. For Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE)-listed companies, many occupying globally significant positions in semiconductors, hardware and component manufacturing, sustainability factors now influence access to global capital.

Taiwan's Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) is implementing a phased road map for mandatory sustainability disclosure by listed companies, requiring climate-related information and adoption of IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards (IFRS S1 and S2), with timelines varying by company characteristics.

The TWSE has centralized environmental, social and governance disclosures through its Market Observation Post System's Corporate Governance section and introduced sustainability indexes with reporting guidance. As global sustainable investors allocating capital to TWSE-listed companies increasingly prioritize granular, comparable sustainability data that enables cross-border benchmarking, a key question emerges: Which sustainability themes shape allocation decisions, and how do TWSE companies' disclosure practices and performance compare to global and emerging-market peers under consistent methodology?

This research analyzes 812 global sustainable funds allocating capital to TWSE-listed companies, using June 2026 fund holdings data and 2025 CSA methodology. As of June 2026, sustainable funds held positions in 760 of the 1,057 TWSE-listed companies. Excluding Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC), 656 funds (81%) held at least one other TWSE-listed issuer, demonstrating that sustainable fund exposure extends well beyond Taiwan's largest company.

The analysis uses S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA) scores available for 457 of 1,057 TWSE-listed companies (43%), representing approximately 95% of the total market capitalization of TWSE-listed companies, to benchmark Taiwan issuers against constituents of the Dow Jones Best-in-Class World and Emerging Markets Indices. These indices represent the top-performing 10% of companies globally in each industry based on CSA scores.

To support TWSE-listed companies in understanding how sustainable investors assess their performance, the analysis addressed five analytical objectives.

Understanding sustainable-investor participation

The number of funds holding an issuer does not show the full scale or significance of that exposure. A complete view requires examining assets under management, average and median position sizes, fund type, fund domicile, sector concentration, and the effect of TSMC on market-level results.

The research found that 812 sustainable funds held positions in 760 of 1,057 TWSE-listed companies. Excluding TSMC, 656 funds (81%) held at least one other TWSE issuer, showing broad but uneven participation across the market. Sustainable-fund exposure, therefore, required analysis beyond a simple holder count.

Connecting investor priorities with company performance

TWSE-listed companies needed to identify the sustainability topics most relevant to global sustainable investors. Funds use different objectives and methods, so investors may assess the same company against different priorities.

The research identified six recurring themes in sustainable-fund documents and profiles: sound management structures, tax compliance, information security, climate strategy, energy, and labor practices and human capital management. Understanding how these topics relate to measurable performance helps issuers determine whether their disclosures address the information most relevant to international investors.

Establishing global benchmarks

Investors often compare TWSE issuers with companies in other markets. Differences in reporting practices, terminology, data availability and industry context can make those comparisons difficult.

A company may disclose a sustainability policy without providing sufficient information about its scope, implementation, performance or progress. Investors may therefore need to combine company reports, fund documents, sustainability assessments and peer data before evaluating an issuer. A consistent benchmarking framework identifies relative strengths and areas requiring further attention.

Identifying performance differences across the TWSE universe

CSA results were available for 457 TWSE-listed companies, representing 43% of the issuer universe and approximately 95% of the total market capitalization of TWSE-listed companies. The benchmarking therefore covered only companies with available CSA results and was not a complete ranking of all TWSE issuers.

The Top Decile comprised 46 companies, representing the highest-scoring 10% of the 457 CSA-assessed issuers. The research compared this group and the broader assessed TWSE population with the DJBIC World and DJBIC Emerging Markets benchmarks, highlighting differences between leading issuers and the wider assessed universe.

Responding to evolving disclosure expectations

These differences became more relevant as Taiwan strengthened sustainability disclosure requirements and moved toward greater alignment with international standards. Investor Relations teams needed to explain how sustainability issues relate to business strategy, operational resilience, risk management and long-term competitiveness.

They also needed to anticipate investor questions, compare company performance with international peers and communicate progress without suggesting that disclosure alone would result in investment or improved valuation.

Addressing these objectives required an analytical framework that connected investor priorities with measurable performance indicators and global benchmarks.

The analysis combined sustainable-fund holdings data, investor priority review and company-level sustainability assessments.

Analyzing sustainable-fund holdings

The analysis used S&P Global Market Intelligence holdings data to examine 812 sustainable funds and 1,057 TWSE-listed companies as of June 11, 2026.

The analysis considered fund holder count, assets under management, position sizes, fund type, fund domicile, sector exposure, and concentration, including and excluding TSMC. This distinguished wider ownership from concentrated exposure.

Mapping investor priorities to CSA topics

The research mapped six recurring investor priorities to seven CSA criteria: sound management structures, tax compliance, information security, climate strategy, energy, labor practices and human capital management.

The CSA evaluates companies on financially material ESG factors using industry-specific criteria and information from company submissions and public sources. Scores are presented on a 0-100 scale, with higher scores indicating stronger assessed performance. CSA scores are one factor investors may consider and do not predict financial performance or investment returns.

The mapping showed how investor priorities connect with measurable company-level topics and can inform investor communications.

Assessing and benchmarking company performance

The analysis used CSA 2025 results, reflecting information from the relevant assessment cycle, including 2024 corporate disclosures. Of the 1,057 TWSE-listed companies, 457 had CSA results available for benchmarking.

Performance was compared with the DJBIC World and DJBIC Emerging Markets indices. The analysis distinguished between the broader CSA-assessed TWSE population, the Top Decile of 46 issuers, and the two DJBIC benchmarks. It examined the seven mapped CSA topics to identify areas where leading TWSE issuers performed competitively and where the broader population lagged international benchmarks.

Fund holdings were measured as of June 11, 2026, while CSA 2025 results reflected the relevant assessment period. The findings should not be interpreted as a real-time or causal relationship between sustainability scores and fund ownership.

The analytical framework answered five questions:

• Which TWSE issuers were held by global sustainable funds?
• How broad or concentrated was that participation?
• Which sustainability topics appeared most frequently in fund priorities?
• How did those priorities relate to CSA criteria?
• How did TWSE issuers compare with global and emerging-market benchmarks?

The findings created a basis for assessing investor visibility, sustainability performance and disclosure priorities without treating any individual metric as an investment signal.

The analysis gave TWSE and its listed companies a clearer view of sustainable-fund participation, investor priorities and issuer performance relative to international benchmarks.

Understanding sustainable-fund participation

Sustainable funds held positions in 760 of 1,057 TWSE-listed companies, and 656 funds held at least one issuer other than TSMC. This showed that sustainable-fund exposure extended beyond Taiwan's largest company, although participation and allocation varied across issuers and sectors. The analysis included fund type, domicile, sector exposure, assets under management and position sizes, providing more context than a simple holder count.

Supporting investor-relations priorities

The six recurring investor themes mapped to CSA topics gave Investor Relations teams a basis for identifying the sustainability issues most relevant to international investors. The findings could support investor preparation, peer comparisons, responses to investor questions and prioritization of sustainability information in communications.

This analysis did not establish that stronger disclosure would lead to investment, higher valuation or inclusion in a sustainable fund. Those outcomes depend on multiple factors, including financial performance, valuation, liquidity, portfolio construction and investment objectives.

Identifying strengths and gaps

The benchmarking compared 457 CSA-assessed TWSE companies with DJBIC World and DJBIC Emerging Markets benchmarks. It distinguished leading issuers from the broader assessed population and showed where TWSE companies demonstrated relative strengths or lagged international benchmarks.

This gave TWSE and listed companies a basis for identifying topics that may require stronger management attention, disclosure or investor communication. It avoided treating the performance of leading issuers as representative of the entire TWSE universe.

The research supported a more informed dialogue between TWSE issuers and sustainable investors. It connected fund participation with investor priorities and company-level sustainability data while maintaining a clear distinction between ownership, assessed sustainability performance, and investment outcomes.

S&P Global Sustainable1 provides analytical tools and data to examine sustainable-fund participation, investor priorities, sustainability performance and investor-relations communication.

Capital Access provides company and market intelligence to support stakeholder engagement. It can help users examine sustainable-fund participation, issuer characteristics, market exposure and relevant sustainability-related investor trends.

The Investor Relations Sustainability Engagement Report maps investor sustainability priorities to relevant CSA topics. This can help companies identify the issues most relevant to their investor base, review peer positioning and prioritize disclosures for investor discussions.

CSA data analysis provides an aggregated analysis of sustainability performance across selected topics and issuers. Outputs include comparisons with peer companies and index benchmarks, and identification of relative strengths and improvement areas.

A debriefing session explains the analytical outputs, methodology, scope and interpretation of findings.

Together, these capabilities provide a structured approach to analyzing sustainable-fund participation, mapping investor priorities to the relevant CSA topics, benchmarking company performance against peers and enabling companies to communicate findings with investors.