On August 15, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER) and Japan’s Green AI officially signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to introduce world-leading AI technology and a comprehensive decarbonization technology database. The collaboration aims to help Taiwan’s industries establish decarbonization pathways that are both scientifically grounded and economically viable. This initiative not only echoes the government’s dual policy goals of “digital transformation” and “sustainability transition,” but also provides Taiwanese enterprises—facing mounting global supply chain pressures—with new options to lower the barriers and costs of achieving net zero through technological innovation.
Dr. Je-Liang Liu, Director of CIER’s Center for Energy and Environmental Research, noted that companies frequently express concerns that decarbonization investments are large and that tangible benefits are not immediately visible, leading many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to hesitate. “From the perspective of an economic think tank, decarbonization must be pragmatic and follow economic logic. Companies should begin with lower-cost measures and progressively move toward higher-cost solutions. Through our collaboration with Green AI, we can combine AI’s computational power and an extensive database of decarbonization technologies with the specific characteristics of Taiwan’s industries, enabling the development of tailored, cost-effective, and efficient strategies that help our enterprises steadily meet the requirements of international supply chains,” Liu said.
Green AI CEO Shintaro Suzuki highlighted the practical challenges enterprises face in Japan. “Developing a decarbonization plan internally is time-consuming and labor-intensive, often requiring external consultants. However, high consulting fees and limited manpower make this difficult. Green AI was created to fill this gap. Our database includes 1,700 decarbonization technologies, with more than 50 options for air conditioning improvements alone. AI can generate the most economically effective strategies based on a company’s sector, equipment type, and reduction targets. This makes what we call ‘decarbonization democratization’ possible—meaning every company can easily access high-quality decarbonization advice. We are honored to partner with CIER to bring our solutions to Taiwanese industries.”
CIER emphasized that the significance of this collaboration lies not only in introducing world-class AI decarbonization technology to Taiwan but also in promoting its localization and fostering deeper exchanges between Taiwan and Japan across government, industry, and academia. Moving forward, the two sides plan to cooperate on industrial demonstration projects, data sharing, and local optimization of technologies, while actively exploring ways to align AI decarbonization tools with government policies and corporate needs to create more actionable case studies.
At a time when geopolitical tensions and global net-zero challenges are intensifying, the partnership between CIER and Green AI represents the convergence of “policy, technology, and industry”—a strong demonstration of Taiwan’s determination and commitment to accelerating its net-zero transition.