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Global warming gets shortchanged

"Taiwan should phase out industries that emit carbon dioxide during the production process."

Sam Lin, head of the Ecology Conservation Alliance

The film The Day After Tomorrow, in which abrupt climate change thrusts the world into chaos, has triggered discussion about climate change in Taiwan and disputes about the nation's policies on emissions of greenhouse gases.

Legislators, environmentalists and academics have joined a chorus of voices demanding measures to tackle climate change and steps to increase people's awareness of the problem.

Early this month, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) announced that it would at the end of this year sign formal memorandums of understanding with business associations in the semiconductor and thin-film transistor liquid-crystal display industries. The memos are intended to curb emissions of perfluorocarbons (PFCs).

Officials have said that the EPA will help firms in these industries reach emission goals for PFCs by offering up-to-date information and keeping track of greenhouse gas emissions.

EPA Deputy Administrator Tsay Ting-kuei (蔡丁貴) vowed to have the nation "well prepared" for a day when the international community asks Taiwan to become more involved in sustainable global development.

Leu Horng-guang (呂鴻光), director-general of the EPA's Bureau of Air Quality Protection and Noise Control, said that the memorandums would not affect the industries economically nor reduce the rate at which they are able to produce their products.

However, last week, legislators and environmentalists argued that PFCs are only one of six greenhouse gas groups covered under the Kyoto Protocol.

The UN treaty sets targets for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases in industrialized countries and sets country-specific measures for reducing emissions.

To effectively limit emissions of greenhouse gases produced by industries that consume a lot of energy, both legislators and activists says that the government must make changes to the nation's industrial structure.

"Taiwan should phase out industries that emit carbon dioxide during the production process, including cement production, lime production, steel-making and others," Sam Lin (林聖崇), head of the Ecology Conservation Alliance, said.

Environmentalists say that emissions of carbon dioxide have to be cut severely in order for the nation to avoid severe criticism in the near future.

The amount of carbon dioxide emitted in Taiwan increased dramatically between 1990 and 2000 -- with 272 million tonnes being emitted in 2000 compared to 160 million tonnes in 1990, for an increase of 70 percent.

Taiwan produces more carbon dioxide emissions than all but 21 nations, despite its modest size.

Eric Liou (劉銘龍), secretary-general of the Environmental Quality Protection Foundation, said the nation's performance on emissions is terrible -- and violate the spirit of Kyoto.

The treaty aims, between 2008 and 2012, to reduce greenhouse gases from developed countries to a level 5 percent below 1990 levels.

"Even though Taiwan is not a UN member, it should not avoid the responsibilities that are shared by the entire global village," Liou said.

Liou said that so far the EPA has not developed a strategy to effectively limit the top 100 sources of carbon dioxide in Taiwan.

"Does the government have the guts to limit influential firms' emissions of carbon dioxide, such as China Steel (中鋼) and the Sixth Naphtha Cracker Plant (六輕)?" Liou asked.

According to Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Eugene Jao (趙永清), each US dollar that Taiwan earns results in emissions of 0.53kg of carbon dioxide.

"I don't think the EPA has faced up to the serious problems the nation will encounter if it doesn't even consider emissions of greenhouse gases when it performs environmental impact assessment reports for new development projects," Jao said.

EPA officials said that global treaties on climate change had been closely followed since the 1990s and that policies would be slightly revised to effectively control emissions.

"At this very moment, raising people's awareness is more important," Leu said.

Taking advantage of the release of The Day After Tomorrow, EPA Administrator Chang Juu-en (張祖恩) last week invited to a screening more than 100 experts on air pollution prevention, representatives of environmental groups and legislators interested in promoting sustainable development.

Also, the EPA distributed a pamphlet teaching residents how to alter their energy-use habits in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, called Let's work together to slow down the warming-up of Earth.
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