The Taipei-based European Chamber of Commerce Taipei (ECCT) urged Taiwan’s government yesterday to communicate with the automobile industry when it drafts measures to cut carbon-dioxide emissions and encourage green vehicle technologies.
ECCT chairman Philippe Pellegrin made the remarks at a news conference held by the ECCT’s Automotive Committee and the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) to release the “Clean Air, Less Fuel Study Report.”
Pellegrin said that conserving energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions have become the focus of governments around the world as they pursue a sustainable environment and development.
Taiwan’s government, he said, has also introduced policies and measures to facilitate the adoption of the most advanced green technologies.
“However, together with the ITRI, the ECCT would like to offer recommendations from the industry to the Taiwan government so as to effectively reach the goals stated in the ‘Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act,’ while giving the auto industry a push in this very difficult economic situation,” Pellegrin said.
Wolfram Geisler, chairman of the ECCT Automotive Committee and CEO of Mercedes-Benz Taiwan, said that the two policy directions the ECCT suggested to Taiwan’s government are to speed up the replacement of old vehicles and to introduce green technologies in phases.
At present, as many as 45 percent of the vehicles in use in Taiwan are more than 10 years old, Geisler said, adding that these older cars should be targeted first to cut carbon-dioxide emissions.
“We urge the government to offer incentives and adopt policies which will encourage all kinds of technologies that help to conserve energy and reduce emissions, taking into consideration the timeline,” Geisler said.
He urged the government to weigh its policies and incentives based on efficiency outcomes instead of supporting a specific technology.
Asked how much impact the report would have, given the government’s focus on improving the floundering economy, Geisler said the ECCT simply wanted to demonstrate that there are many ways to achieve the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and suppliers and consumers should be free to choose how to do so under guidelines set by the government.
“We must change a little bit our expectations that from tomorrow everything will be different,” he said.
Daniel Khoo, managing director of Audi Taiwan, said: “There is no bad time to introduce a policy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It doesn’t matter what it is concentrating on ... This is a policy that involves every consumer, the manufacturers and the government.”
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