The 2016 New Energy Leadership Forum was organised by the ECCT's Low Carbon Initiative (LCI), China Petroleum Corporation (CPC), and PwC with the purpose of assisting leaders from government and industry to set out feasible action plans to put Taiwan on track to implement green energy solutions and avoid the dangerous consequences of climate change by reducing greenhouse emissions and limiting global warming to below 2°C and meet Taiwan's international commitments to address climate change.

At the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 21) in Paris, 196 countries negotiated and accepted the Paris Agreement, a global agreement on the reduction of climate change, the text of which represented a consensus of the representatives of all parties attending. On 22 April 2016 (Earth Day), 174 countries signed the agreement in New York and began adopting it within their own legal systems (through ratification, acceptance, approval, or accession). In addition to voting for the COP 21 agreement, Taiwan's new government in May 2016 has committed to phasing out nuclear power and increasing renewable-based electricity generation to 20% of supply by 2025. Through the passage of the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Reduction and Management Act in 2015 Taiwan had already committed to cutting GHG emissions to 50% of 2005 levels by 2050.

The forum was opened by Dr Lee Chih-kung, Minister of the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MoEA). It featured two sessions covering topics including new energy generation and supply, low carbon technology, energy efficiency and green financing, among other subjects. The forum highlights included keynote presentations on Taiwan's Electricity Utility Law (電業法) and Taiwan electricity market development by Dr Lin Chuan-neng, Director-General of Bureau of Energy; CPC's energy transformation, solar energy and electric vehicle charging plans for gas stations by Dr Huang Dong-Li, Director of CPC's Green Tech Research Institute; Google's green energy certification and direct purchase by Marsden Hanna, Google's Leadership in Global Energy Policy and Markets and the competitiveness of wind energy in Taiwan's renewable market by Bart Linssen, Chairman of Enercon Taiwan Ltd.