The social, environmental and financial risks of climate change are well-known.
However, although it is important that we remain focused on tackling these, we must also respond rapidly to the opportunities they present. The transition to a low-carbon, resource-efficient economy is rightly making everyone reconsider the way we generate, transport and consume energy.
While other countries are still deliberating over carbon commitments, the UK has embraced the economy-wide opportunity. Earlier this year, the UK government published a new Carbon Plan setting out what has to happen and by when if the UK is to live up to its green ambitions, meet domestic carbon targets and encourage greater action internationally. This focuses on the jobs and economic opportunities of the low carbon economy and on policies that will help insulate Britain from future energy price shocks.
This Carbon Plan sets out a vision of a changed Britain, powered by cleaner energy used more efficiently in homes and businesses, with more secure energy supplies and more stable energy prices that will benefit from the jobs and growth that a low-carbon economy will bring.
However, as humanity moves toward creating a low-carbon world, we need to look beyond government solutions. The business community will be instrumental in shaping how the new “green” economy operates.
Businesses have the power to implement real, substantive and swift change and to enjoy the benefits of the rise of the green economy. This is particularly important given the global challenge of recovering from the global economic crisis. From software to agriculture and from manufacturing to transport, the UK is already mainstreaming new ways of thinking and new ways of working that seek to make businesses more energy and resource efficient.
Taiwanese business leaders are increasingly seeing climate change as one of their top concerns and businesses are now taking a hard look at their environmental impact. While corporate responsibility is a factor, the economic facts mean that business models cannot afford to ignore the green trend. Globally, the low-carbon and environmental goods and services sector already involves 1.4 million companies and over 28 million employees. The sector continues to grow despite the global downturn, and is forecast to grow by around 4 percent per year over the next five years.
Economies which invest in renewable energy reduce their dependency on imported oil, coal and gas, making them less vulnerable to global shocks.
The UK is an emerging international hub for low-carbon expertise and innovation, helping businesses across the world shift to a low-carbon future through smarter, sustainable solutions, making it an ideal investment location for low-carbon companies wanting to grow their business internationally. In every industry, the UK is demonstrating world-class capabilities in low-carbon, energy and resource efficiency — from the largest offshore wind capacity to cutting-edge marine energy technologies.
With a strong spirit of innovation and entrepreneurialism, the UK is ideally placed to prosper in this new world. Taiwanese companies, too, are developing technologies to help us use resources more efficiently. There is scope for partnership here as the UK and Taiwan both move quickly to low-carbon economies. The transition presents great opportunities to those economies able to seize them.
Investing time and money in low-carbon technology makes good business sense. With concerted effort, I am confident that even more can be achieved in partnerships between Taiwan and British companies.
David Campbell is Director of the British Trade and Cultural Office.
Because much of what former US president Donald Trump says is unhinged and histrionic, it is tempting to dismiss all of it as bunk. Yet the potential future president has a populist knack for sounding alarums that resonate with the zeitgeist — for example, with growing anxiety about World War III and nuclear Armageddon. “We’re a failing nation,” Trump ranted during his US presidential debate against US Vice President Kamala Harris in one particularly meandering answer (the one that also recycled urban myths about immigrants eating cats). “And what, what’s going on here, you’re going to end up in World War
Earlier this month in Newsweek, President William Lai (賴清德) challenged the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to retake the territories lost to Russia in the 19th century rather than invade Taiwan. He stated: “If it is for the sake of territorial integrity, why doesn’t [the PRC] take back the lands occupied by Russia that were signed over in the treaty of Aigun?” This was a brilliant political move to finally state openly what many Chinese in both China and Taiwan have long been thinking about the lost territories in the Russian far east: The Russian far east should be “theirs.” Granted, Lai issued
On Tuesday, President William Lai (賴清德) met with a delegation from the Hoover Institution, a think tank based at Stanford University in California, to discuss strengthening US-Taiwan relations and enhancing peace and stability in the region. The delegation was led by James Ellis Jr, co-chair of the institution’s Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific Region project and former commander of the US Strategic Command. It also included former Australian minister for foreign affairs Marise Payne, influential US academics and other former policymakers. Think tank diplomacy is an important component of Taiwan’s efforts to maintain high-level dialogue with other nations with which it does
On Sept. 2, Elbridge Colby, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy and force development, wrote an article for the Wall Street Journal called “The US and Taiwan Must Change Course” that defends his position that the US and Taiwan are not doing enough to deter the People’s Republic of China (PRC) from taking Taiwan. Colby is correct, of course: the US and Taiwan need to do a lot more or the PRC will invade Taiwan like Russia did against Ukraine. The US and Taiwan have failed to prepare properly to deter war. The blame must fall on politicians and policymakers