Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) is widely regarded as a good communicator; an eloquent speaker whose choice of words and speaking style the public can relate to.
Wu’s communication skills are undoubtedly one of the main reasons why President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) chose him to succeed Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄), a stuffy academic who struggled in this regard.
Wu’s talents were certainly on full display over the weekend at an environmental award ceremony when he told the audience that five of the nation’s biggest companies — Taipower; CPC Corp, Taiwan; China Steel; China Shipbuilding and Formosa Petrochemicals — should ramp up efforts to cut carbon emissions.
The premier certainly chose his targets wisely as together the five companies are responsible for a large portion of the nation’s total emissions and the reason that it has one of the highest per capita emissions ratios in the world.
One simple, important fact that seemed to escape Wu though was that four of the five companies he singled out are state-owned, the exception being Formosa Petrochemicals.
This means that the government holds a controlling stake in these companies, and if Wu and his administration wanted to make a difference, they could do so easily.
For example, if Wu really is serious about promoting renewable energy, he could force Taipower to increase the tariffs it pays for wind and other renewable energy sources — a key sticking point for foreign investors in the market.
In the case of CPC Corp, Taiwan, Wu could order an increase in gas prices in a bid to encourage use of public transport. He could also make the firm install electric chargers and LPG facilities at gas stations nationwide to encourage people to buy the energy efficient gas and battery-powered vehicles that are beginning to roll off automobile production lines around the world.
China Steel and China Shipbuilding, meanwhile, could be made to invest in energy efficient machinery, equipment and practices.
If the government is really serious about cutting industrial emissions, they could also introduce a carbon tax or carbon trading — two effective measures it has been vacillating on for a number of years.
Wu also mentioned that the Presidential Office has joined the environmental effort by turning off lights in the daytime, using water-efficient faucets and raising the thermostats on its air-conditioners, but trying to encourage such frugality is pointless when state-run utilities continue to sell water and electricity at ridiculously low prices. It is even more pointless when there is almost no effort being made to promote environmentally friendly behavior to the public.
Instead, the government is spending most of its time promoting an economic cooperation framework agreement with China, an agreement that is predicted to benefit big companies such as Formosa and CPC, while probably increasing their emissions.
The problem for Wu is that with Taiwan’s electoral cycle, there is never a right time to enforce painful policy decisions that are capable of making the difference to the nation’s shockingly bad record on carbon emissions.
So with Wu lacking the political will to put his money where his mouth is, the only contribution to global warming we can expect from him during the rest of his tenure is a negative one — from all the hot air that he keeps spouting.
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