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Ma's energy tax to come in stages

Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu leads members of her government in riding bicycles to work yesterday to celebrate Earth Day. PHOTO :CNA

As politicians around the country made an effort to be more environmentally friendly on Earth Day yesterday, Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) minister-designate Stephen Shen (沈世宏) pledged to implement president-elect Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) plan to levy an energy tax to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and cut energy use.

Shen, director of Taipei City’s Bureau of Environmental Protection, said that he would carry out Ma’s campaign platform on energy-saving and implement the policy step by step to reduce the impact on the public.

Ma said in February that he would levy an energy tax if elected president. He reiterated his determination to carry out the policy on Monday night, vowing to use the income from the “green tax” to subsidize companies implementing energy saving measures and for public transportation schemes.

He also said he would implement a mechanism to monitor per capita water consumption with the aim of limiting each person’s water consumption to 250 liters per day.

“If we don’t carry out these policies today, we will regret it tomorrow,” Ma said as he attended an event in Taipei on Monday night celebrating Earth Day.

In response to concerns that an energy tax would hurt people’s wallets, Ma spokesman Luo Chih-chiang (羅智強) said levying an energy tax was part of Ma’s campaign platform and would be implemented after his inauguration.

However, inter-departmental negotiations would be held to discuss substantive measures before the policy was implemented, Luo said.

Meanwhile, to celebrate the 39th annual Earth Day, high-ranking officials demonstrated their determination to protect the environment through a variety of actions.

Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) and Environmental Protection Administration Minister Winston Dang (陳重信) were among the officials who led their staff in eating vegetarian meals and turning all the lights off in their offices between 12pm and 1pm.

Dang and Minister of the Interior Lee Yi-yang (李逸洋) took the bus to work, while Government Information Office Minister Shieh Jhy-wey (謝志偉) walked the 2.3km from his home to his office.

The walk took Shieh 50 minutes, much slower than his usual driving pace, but Shieh said “it’s meaningful to walk to the office on Earth Day.”

“Walking to office made me feel good. Although today’s event carries more symbolic meaning than substance, everyone should consider getting up early to walk to the office,” he said.

Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) and a group of his staffers took the MRT to the office.

Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) and Hualien County Commissioner Hsieh Shen-shan (謝深山) opted for two-wheeled transportation and biked to work.

Since Kaohsiung has the world’s second-highest carbon emissions per capita, its residents have a lot to do to reduce their carbon footprint, Chen said.

“The city plans to build more bike trails and we call on our residents to bike or take mass transportation to work,” Chen said.



When asked by reporters if government officials were just making a one-day show of being green, Shieh said that if everyone started by taking similar measures one day per year, “one could turn slogans into real action.”

“The one-day events were performed to stir awareness of ways to protect the earth,” Dang said.

Protecting the environment should be incorporated into everyday habits, such as opting for mass transportation, eating more vegetables and unplugging unused electric appliances, he said.

Dang was citing the 10 carbon reduction tips the administration had listed in an “SOS, Save Our Sky” campaign that called on the public to take steps in their daily lives to help save the planet.

Other tips included using LED light bulbs instead of incandescent ones, opening windows instead of turning on air conditioners, eating locally produced food, walking more, refusing over-packaged products, carrying a set of personal chopsticks to use instead of disposable ones, using cloth shopping bags and recycling.

The EPA announced Taiwan’s first “Carbon Reduction Year” yesterday, and vowed to transform the nation into a sustainable economy.

“The world is evidently getting hotter. This year Taiwan will experience 32 days over 35°C while the rest of the world averages 22 days. If the trend continues, in 2050 Taiwan will have 44 such days,” Dang said.

Eight local governments were praised at the ceremony for their carbon-reduction achievements, including Taipei City, Taipei County, Taoyuan County, Tainan City and Kaohsiung City, for their exceptional promotion of green ideas and results, and Miaoli County, Tainan and Hualien counties for good compliance.

However, Dang said that Ma’s energy tax idea was a supplementary measure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and should not be carried out until the proposed greenhouse gas reduction act was passed by the legislature.

Dang called on Ma’s incoming administration to take gradual steps in implementing the policy, and said the Ministry of Economic Affairs should negotiate with other government agencies about the policy.

Dang said that the EPA had been pushing for a greenhouse gas reduction law “which would serve as an incentive for businesses to reduce their carbon emissions.”

The idea behind an energy tax was that “users pay,” Dang said.

“Compared to other countries, electricity and water prices are on the low side in Taiwan, only one sixth of those in Japan and the UK,” he said.

“However, since regulations such as energy taxes and renewable energy acts would be supplementary to the greenhouse gas reduction law, the first priority should be for both camps to collaborate and pass the law,” he said.

The Taiwan Power Company announced yesterday that a total of 28,800 kilowatt-hours (kwh) of electricity had been saved during the one-hour lights-out event held starting at noon yesterday to mark Earth Day.

The amount conserved has in effect reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 18,374kg and represents a great improvement compared with the 17,500kwh saved in a similar activity last year, the officials said.

Additional reporting by Shih Hsiu-chuan and CNA
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