The company committed to net zero by 2050, improved its gender diversity on the board from 0% to 25% and set up a zero-placement policy for foreign migrant workers to prevent modern slavery.
We first engaged with Delta Electronics in 2020 when it was yet to commit to a longer-term net-zero target. It also had a significant proportion of migrant workers from Southeast Asian countries working in Taiwan and we were concerned about the human rights issue in the foreign migrant workers’ recruitment process. The company also had an all-male board which we were opposed to.
In 2020, we asked the company to conduct due diligence on indirect labour and the recruitment of direct employees. We emphasised that the recruitment process for blue-collar workers could pose risks to labour and human rights. We also asked the company to disclose the composition of its migrant workers and asked it to elaborate on the recruitment process.
In addition, the company had already committed to setting science-based targets by 2025 but not to a longer-term net-zero target. We were concerned that its existing targets were still not Paris-aligned and that there was a lack of long-term climate targets. We made various recommendations to the company, such as joining the RE100 initiative to commit to sourcing 100% renewable electricity, managing supply chain emissions as part of the Scope 3 emissions reduction targets and suggestions on the TCFD report to further improve its disclosure.
In May 2020, we raised concerns about gender diversity on the all-male board, and followed this up in 2022, emphasising that we had increased our gender diversity expectations on the board to at least 20%, expecting the company to improve before the next election.
After our first engagement, the company stated in its Corporate Social Responsibility report, published in August 2020, that foreign migrant workers in Taiwan are not required to pay fees incurred for agents, passports, visas or transportation. The company also disclosed in 2021 that it would provide workers with training in their own language, religious venues or information, and host foreign worker forums and social events. Furthermore, in June this year, the company formally announced its commitment to net zero by 2050. The company also added its first female director to the board in 2021 and a further two female directors in 2022. The gender diversity on the board increased from 0% to 25% since we first engaged on this issue.
We will continue to engage with the company on supply chain human rights issues, such as sourcing of cobalt and the risks of connections to forced labour in the supply chain, as well as further improving its disclosure on the use of internal carbon payment funds, TCFD and supply chain emissions reduction.