TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan’s YFY Inc (永豐餘投控) announced on Friday (Dec. 10) that it has established the YFY Academy, a platform for promoting new sustainable solutions.

The academy’s vision is based on the “carbohydrate economy” and will set up a cross-border, cross-industry, and cross-platform ecosystem. It aims to achieve energy, material, and digital development through low-carbon, low-emission approaches to innovation.

Ho Show Chung  (何壽川), the 76-year-old head of YFY and son of company founder Ho Chung (何傳), went on to recall the history of YFY. He said the conglomerate dealt with fiber and cellulose in its early years, which brought it to the world of "carbohydrates."

Now that climate change has become an urgent global challenge, He said his company is committed to promoting photosynthetic materials and the renewable properties of carbohydrates to assist in replacing fossil fuels. He emphasized that carbohydrates are one of the richest and most versatile renewable substances and hold unlimited potential.

He said the academy will act as a platform for the prosperity of science, technology, and industry and focus on the goal of "replacing plastic with paper" in the short term. This means using the raw materials of cellulose and starch and developing renewable and low-carbon environmentally friendly material to replace the ubiquitous fossil plastics.

He said if the government wants to encourage companies to reduce carbon emissions and move towards net-zero emissions, it should use carrots instead of sticks and lure them with juicy incentives. When companies “taste the sweetness,” he said, they will naturally want to follow along.

The academy’s medium and long-term goals are to expand into textiles, construction, and related industries, according to YFY Inc.