赤道原則於國際間運行十多年，國內一直未有銀行宣布採行，直至近年來無良企業衍生出大量的食品安全、環境破壞等問題，尤其在2013年頂新集團一年內爆發出三起黑心油品事件後，「全民滅頂」行動聲浪不斷，財政部提出五大招，要求泛公股銀行對於頂新集團相關貸款案件重新審查，同時金管會亦鼓勵銀行對於頂新集團新貸款案件，依循赤道原則進行審查，赤道原則之精神始真正我國金融機構間發酵。
金融機構一直以來自詡為無煙囪行業，但身為企業背後資金之供給者，面對食品安全、環境生態、氣候變遷以及地球永續發展推動等議題金融業當然無可卸責，對此，更應該發揮其金融中介之特性，帶動整個產業鏈朝向永續發展前進。
本論文以頂新案作為國內金融機構採行赤道原則可行性研究之契機，首先由公司治理角度出發，其次就金融業企業社會責任之探討，最後參考赤道原則之精髓，由國內現有之法規範中建構出一套標準，引導金融業考量環境社會因素，期望作為政府及金融機構間將來立法或政策推動上之參考。
The Equator Principle has been in operation for more than a decade in the world, but no bank in our country has announced its implementation until recently a lot of food safety and environmental destruction problems are developed by heartless enterprises. Especially in 2013, after the three waste oil incidents of Ting Hsin Group broke out, the “all citizens destroy Ting Hsin” appeal was incessant, and the Ministry of Finance made five requests to require banks with government ownership to re-examine Ting Hsin Group-related loans. At the same time, the Financial Supervisory Commission also encouraged banks to follow the Equator Principle for the review of Ting Hsin Group’s new loans. The spirit of the Equator Principle was therefore really established among financial institutions in our country.
Financial institutions have been boasting themselves as a non-chimney industry, but as a provider of capital behind enterprises, the financial industry is inextricably confronted with such issues as food safety, environmental ecology, climate change and sustainable develop-ment of the earth. They should display the characteristics of financial intermediaries and lead the industry chain towards sustainable development.
With the domestic financial institutions’ adoption of the Equator Principle due to the Ting Hsin case, this thesis studies the feasibility first from the perspective of corporate gov-ernance, then it discusses the corporate social responsibility of the financial industry, and fi-nally it refers to the essence of the Equator Principle and constructs a set of standards from the existing laws and regulations of the country to guide the financial industry to consider environmental and social factors, in a hope to serve as a reference for the government and financial institutions in future legislation or policy promotion.
