Taiwan’s six major industries have vowed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 830,000 tonnes this year, a Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) official said yesterday.
The industries concerned are steel, petrochemical, cement, paper, artificial fiber and textile dyeing and printing, said Yang Poh-keng (楊伯耕), deputy director of the Sustainable Development Division of the Industrial Development Bureau (IDB).
Yang said the six industries signed an agreement with the MOEA in 2005, vowing to voluntarily reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 4.02 million tonnes by this year.
Citing statistics compiled by the Taipei-based Chinese National Federation of Industries (CNFI, 全國工業總會), Yang said the six industries succeeded in cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 2.59 million tonnes between 2005 and 2006.
In 2006 alone, the six sectors invested NT$8.1 billion (US$267 million) in reducing carbon dioxide emissions, mainly through methods such as improving or renovating equipment, he said.
Initial statistics show that the six industries would have cut carbon dioxide emissions by 790,000 tonnes last year, he said.
“Once the greenhouse emission law is enacted in Taiwan, these industries will have little time to make adjustments and preparations, and that is why the IDB has been promoting the voluntary reduction of carbon dioxide emissions for years now,” Yang said.
He estimated that Taiwan’s carbon dioxide emissions will reach 531 million tonnes by 2015, but said that the goal is to reduce them to 361 million tonnes by 2025.
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