Steve Parker hosts Leadership Matters podcast featuring Niven Huang, Managing Director of KPMG Sustainability Consulting in Taiwan.

Niven Huang shares his journey starting from his birthplace in Hualien, where environmental concerns shaped his early career. He describes how Taiwan's serious environmental issues in 1985, particularly municipal solid waste management, influenced his career path in chemical engineering and environmental studies.

Huang explains his transition from environmental engineering to sustainability advocacy when he joined the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) in 1997. He highlights how global environmental treaties and protocols, particularly the 1992 Rio Summit and 1997 Kyoto Protocol, influenced his career shift from being a 'carbon dioxide creator' to becoming a climate action advocate.

The discussion covers Huang's role in promoting Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) practices in Taiwan. He emphasizes how he translated key documents like the GHG protocol into Mandarin Chinese in 2003 and facilitated major companies like TSMC in sustainability practices.

Huang discusses the evolution of social enterprise and its importance in addressing societal challenges. He describes how KPMG has been working to build an ecosystem supporting social enterprises, including developing impact measurement methodologies and facilitating partnerships between traditional businesses and social enterprises.

The conversation concludes with Huang's perspective on current challenges facing Taiwan, including aging society and low birth rates, and how social entrepreneurs can contribute to solving these issues. He emphasizes that everyone should be part of the solution, noting that currently only 20% of people see themselves as solution providers.

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