Eco Echo Award

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Eco Echo Award
Date	April–November every year
Location	Taiwan
Country
Presented by
Reward(s)	Eco Echo Award trophy, project grants
First awarded	1st Eco Echo Award in 2016
Last awarded	4th Eco Echo Award in 2019
Currently held by	United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC)
Website

The Eco Echo Award is an environmental protection public welfare award initiated by United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) in Taiwan to support ecological conservation by offering the highest prize money. The Award is jointly organized by several major enterprises from various industries. The Award mainly includes grants for ecological conservation projects and the Youth Environmental Action Award.

Founding History

Origin of Development

The Eco Echo Award originated from UMC's internal environmental protection practices and has extended its scope to external green initiatives. It started from a series of environmental protection policies, including greenhouse gas reduction, carbon asset application, carbon trading, the establishment of special funds from carbon trading, and has become an award that long supported private organizations in conducting ecological conservation.

• Carbon Trading

UMC organized the "Fluorinated Greenhouse Gas Reduction Team" in 1999 to set greenhouse gas reduction targets at various stages and promote greenhouse gas reduction plans. The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) announced the "Principle for Promoting Greenhouse Gas Preliminary Project and Offset Project" and the "Greenhouse Gas Emission Intensity for Semiconductor Industry" in 2010 and 2011, respectively. In response to the reduction policy promoted by the government, UMC commissioned a third-party inspection agency to verify the effectiveness of greenhouse gas reduction during the past 10 years to confirm the implementation results. From 2013 to 2014, UMC passed the review of the EPA's preliminary reduction project, and obtained 3.02 million tons of greenhouse gas reduction quota (also known as the carbon rights). In January 2014, UMC signed a contract with Dragon Steel for trading 2 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent preliminary project reduction quota (or carbon rights), which was approved by the Environmental Protection Administration, Executive Yuan. This became the first carbon rights trade that was reviewed and approved by the EPA in Taiwan after the launch of the carbon trading system, creating an important milestone for the domestic carbon trading market.

• Eco-Echo Ecological Conservation Hope Project

UMC announced on Earth Day 2014 that the NT$ 30 million earned from carbon trading will serve as a special fund for environmental protection and the launch of the "Eco-Echo Ecological Conservation Hope Project.". The Project covers the aspects of conservation and education, aiming to promote environmental biodiversity and species restoration, and improve the awareness of environmental protection. Through long-term caring and protection of the local ecology in Taiwan, UMC will do its part to promote environmental sustainability.

"Sauter's Frog Habitat Conservation Operation" is the first project of the UMC Ecological Conservation Hope Project. Since 2014, UMC has collaborated with the Society of Wilderness to promote a series of habitat conservation operations based on the theme of "helping frogs cross the road" for Sauter's frogs in the Dashanbei area of Hengshan Township, Hsinchu County, including ecological environment investigation, habitat creation and maintenance, volunteer training, activities to protect frogs crossing the road, and production of a conservation documentary. The entire project was conducted for 3 years, with a total investment of NT$ 3 million. As of 2016, a total of 526 volunteer trainings have been completed, 3,378 volunteers have participated in the project, and the filming of a documentary for protecting the Sauter's frogs in the Dashanbei area has been completed. According to the results of the survey conducted by the Society of Wilderness, the population of Sauter's frog has improved after the implementation of the project, and the rate of road kill has dropped from 10.91% to 5.32% after the project was launched.

Establishment of the Eco Echo Award

In 2016, UMC collaborated with Global Views Monthly magazine to organize the Eco Echo Award competition, and announced on April 21, the day before Earth Day, that it would spend NT$ 1 million every year to hold the "Eco Echo Award," offering financial support to outstanding ecological conservation projects for each year.[ 。The total prize money of the Eco Echo Award has increased year by year. In the 2nd Eco Echo Award, support was received from collaborative partners to increase the total prize money to NT$ 2 million. 。Since 2018, the total prize money has increased to NT$ 3 million in order to support and encourage more ecological conservation groups. The Youth Environmental Action Award was added with the 4th Eco Echo Award.

Methodology

Eligibility

Adult groups: government-chartered, non-profit organizations, foundations (excluding corporate foundations), local associations, community development associations, and NGOs.
Student groups: from Grade 9 students to university freshmen.

Awards

Award	Target	Call for proposals	Total prize money	Prize money given to winners
Ecological Conservation Project Award	Adult groups	Proposal of ecological conservation projects that relates to the promotion of ecological diversity, the maintenance of the natural ecological environment, and the development of environmental education	NT$ 2.8 million	Depending on the budget of the proposal requested by each group, prize money of at least NT$ 300,000 to at most NT$ 1 million will be provided to the winning group
Internet Popularity Award			NT$ 50,000	The top 5 groups with the highest number of votes in the Eco Echo Award Popularity Contest will receive the Internet Popularity Award and prize money of NT$ 10,000 each.
Youth Environmental Action Award	Student groups	Propose environmental protection practices that have already been implemented	NT$ 150,000	First place will win prize money of NT$ 60,000 and a trophy. Three groups will be selected for runner up. They will receive prize money of NT$ 30,000 and a trophy. A recommendation certificate will be provided to the winners and issued to the schools.

Activity Schedule

Call for proposal			Evaluation period			Announcement of awards
April 22	April–May	End of July	August	August–September	September	October	November
Application start	Briefing on how to apply	Application end	Announcement for the list of finalists	Popularity Contest	Final evaluation meeting	Announcement of the winners	Award ceremony

The schedule is subject to change depending on the condition of each year.

Evaluation System

Ecological Conservation Project Award (Adult groups)
Preliminary evaluation
The organizer will evaluate whether the submitted materials are in compliance with the call-for-proposal criteria. Furthermore, based on the proposal and photos provided by the applicant, the organizer will evaluate whether the materials are innovative and meet the theme of sustainable environmental development.
Final
Each finalist will assign a person to carry out an oral presentation and real-time Q&A with the jury panel. Based on the materials submitted and the performance of the oral presentation as well as the Q&A, the jury panel will give scores to items such as "biodiversity," "naturality, representativeness and uniqueness" and "plan rationality."

Youth Environmental Action Award (Student groups)
Preliminary evaluation
The organizer will check whether the submitted materials are in compliance with the call-for-proposal criteria and the criteria for evaluation. The finalists will be determined by the jury panel based on the majority votes.
Final
Each finalist will assign a person to carry out an oral presentation and real-time Q&A with the jury panel. Based on the materials submitted and the performance of the oral presentation as well as the Q&A, the jury panel will give scores to items such as "the urgency of the issue to the environment," "the changes brought about by the actions to the environment" and "the appropriateness of presentation."

Past Collaboration Partners

Lam Research, Hermes Epitek, 3M Taiwan, BASF Taiwan, Hueng Luei Process Industry, Edwards, Unimicron, Faraday, Wholetech System, Formosa Sumco Technology, Tokyo Electron Limited

Past Reports

2016 1st Eco Echo Award : "Industry" Organizing the Eco Echo Award, UMC promotes sustainable green ecology
2017 2nd Eco Echo Award : "Semiconductor" UMC promotes cross-industry collaboration to realize the vision of the Eco Echo Award. Page is saved and stored in the Internet Archive
2018 3rd Eco Echo Award : UMC's 3rd Eco Echo Award breaks the record in the number of projects received, establishing a good example in corporate environmental protection public welfare. Page is saved and stored in the Internet Archive
2019 4th Eco Echo Award : UMC organizes the Eco Echo Award for ecological conservation and offers prize money of NT$ 3 million every year. Page is saved and stored in the Internet Archive

Reference

This article "Eco Echo Award" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Eco Echo Award. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

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