NUK Sustainability Report

2026-09-22

In response to global trends toward net-zero emissions and sustainable development, the NUK Local USR Platform, jointly established by the Department of Applied Economics and the Center for General Education at the National University of Kaohsiung (NUK), hosted the lecture “Green Transformation, Taking the First Step toward Carbon Reduction: A General Education Course on Carbon Inventory for Communities and Campuses” on September 18.

The event invited Chia-Hung Lin, General Manager of RISE Consulting Co., Ltd., as the keynote speaker. Through a combination of a thematic lecture and interactive discussions, Lin introduced faculty, students, and local community residents to greenhouse gas inventories, carbon management, and everyday carbon-reduction practices. Centered on the NUK Local USR Platform, the event connected campus and community resources to translate the concepts of net zero and sustainability into local action and advance green transformation and climate action.

With the theme “Bringing Green Carbon Reduction into Communities and Campuses to Co-Create a Sustainable Future,” the lecture covered global and domestic trends in greenhouse gas management, the challenges of achieving net-zero emissions, carbon management pathways, and practical approaches to greenhouse gas inventories.

The lecture emphasized that amid global climate change and the transition toward net zero, carbon inventories have become an essential foundation for organizations to understand their carbon emissions, identify emission hotspots, and develop reduction strategies. Lin noted that carbon reduction efforts by businesses, schools, and communities cannot stop at promoting awareness; they require actual data to identify the sources of emissions. Following a greenhouse gas inventory framework, organizations can establish a comprehensive carbon management process step by step, from defining organizational boundaries and identifying emission sources to collecting activity data and emission factors, calculating emissions, and preparing and verifying inventory reports.

The lecture also explained that carbon emissions can be categorized into direct and indirect emissions and further identified across Categories 1 to 6, covering areas such as stationary combustion, purchased electricity, transportation, materials and services, product use, and other sources. These examples helped participants better understand carbon sources that can easily be overlooked in everyday operations.

To connect carbon inventory concepts with real-world campus settings, the lecture presented greenhouse gas inventory cases from National Chung Hsing University, Chang Gung University, and Chung Yuan Christian University. The National Chung Hsing University case showed that electricity consumption was a major source of emissions and that upgrades to energy-efficient equipment and behavioral energy-saving measures could reduce Scope 2 emissions. The Chang Gung University case demonstrated that although refrigerant leakage may involve relatively small physical quantities, certain refrigerants have high global warming potential; when converted into carbon dioxide equivalents (CO₂e), they can still have a significant impact on overall emissions. Chung Yuan Christian University, meanwhile, used inventory results to identify emission hotspots and further analyze areas with potential for emissions reduction.

The event emphasized that “a carbon inventory is not the endpoint, but the starting point for carbon-reduction action.” Once baseline data have been established through carbon inventories, organizations can set reduction targets, plan energy-saving measures, and introduce appropriate carbon-reduction technologies, gradually developing a management pathway from carbon inventory to carbon reduction and carbon neutrality. The course materials also noted that businesses can use organizational inventories to identify opportunities for emissions reduction before advancing to stages such as product carbon footprints, reduction projects, and carbon neutrality.

In addition to the keynote presentation, the event featured interactive discussions encouraging participants to explore carbon-reduction opportunities in campus, community, and everyday settings, including electricity consumption, transportation, resource use, and waste management. Through two-way exchange between the community and campus, carbon inventories can move beyond being a specialized technical topic and become a sustainability action that everyone can understand, participate in, and put into practice.

The organizers stated that they will continue to work with the Lantian local community, NUK faculty and students, and relevant professional resources to promote climate action and sustainability education. By starting with everyday living environments, the initiative aims to gradually strengthen carbon-reduction awareness and capacity across the community and campus, extending “Green Transformation, Taking the First Step toward Carbon Reduction” from a single lecture into sustained local action.