A bill on the development of renewable energy will "very likely" be passed in the current legislative session, lawmakers serving on the Economics and Energy Committee said yesterday.
However, the passage of bills on an energy tax and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions was unlikely to proceed as smoothly, with controversies surrounding these bills still lingering, they said.
The legislators and the government agency in charge of drafting a final version of the energy tax bill have not yet done so, while further discussions are required before the legislative Sanitation, Environment and Social Welfare Committee will be able to complete the second review of the greenhouse gas reduction bill.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang To-far (
Wang said that the Environmental Protection Administration had in principle accepted his suggestion of setting up a timeline in which the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by a certain percentage must be reached by a certain date.
Wang reported on the progress of the three bills related to environmental protection at a press conference yesterday where lawmakers who visited the UK at the end of last month briefed the media on their thoughts and observations on how the British government was addressing the issue.
They described their visit, initiated by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, as significant, as it was the first official visit to the UK since the two nations severed diplomatic relations 35 years ago.
DPP legislators Lee Chun-yee (李俊毅) and Chen Min-jen (陳明真), KMT Legislator Lwo Shih-hsiung (羅世雄), deputy director of the British Trade and Cultural Office Charles Garrett and Bureau of Energy Director-General Yeh Huey-ching (葉惠青) also addressed the press conference.
Lee said that the UK had achieved great success in curbing carbon dioxide emissions and that the Taiwanese government could learn a great deal from the British example.
Wang said he hoped that the Environmental Protection Administration could establish a carbon trade policy in Taiwan within three years.
Lwo said that the renewable energy development bill had to be passed as a matter of urgency.
"We need to consider the impact on the industries that rely on low gas prices and low carbon prices, which will be removed from the market. Meanwhile, we also need growth in the renewable energy industry so that it may replace the high-pollution industries," he said.
South Korean K-pop girl group Blackpink are to make Kaohsiung the first stop on their Asia tour when they perform at Kaohsiung National Stadium on Oct. 18 and 19, the event organizer said yesterday. The upcoming performances will also make Blackpink the first girl group ever to perform twice at the stadium. It will be the group’s third visit to Taiwan to stage a concert. The last time Blackpink held a concert in the city was in March 2023. Their first concert in Taiwan was on March 3, 2019, at NTSU Arena (Linkou Arena). The group’s 2022-2023 “Born Pink” tour set a
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The Taiwan High Court yesterday upheld a lower court’s decision that ruled in favor of former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) regarding the legitimacy of her doctoral degree. The issue surrounding Tsai’s academic credentials was raised by former political talk show host Dennis Peng (彭文正) in a Facebook post in June 2019, when Tsai was seeking re-election. Peng has repeatedly accused Tsai of never completing her doctoral dissertation to get a doctoral degree in law from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 1984. He subsequently filed a declaratory action charging that
The Hualien Branch of the High Court today sentenced the main suspect in the 2021 fatal derailment of the Taroko Express to 12 years and six months in jail in the second trial of the suspect for his role in Taiwan’s deadliest train crash. Lee Yi-hsiang (李義祥), the driver of a crane truck that fell onto the tracks and which the the Taiwan Railways Administration's (TRA) train crashed into in an accident that killed 49 people and injured 200, was sentenced to seven years and 10 months in the first trial by the Hualien District Court in 2022. Hoa Van Hao, a