Taiwan ranks first in the world, among countries with a population of 10 million or more, in the growth rate of carbon dioxide emissions, the director of the Research Center for Environmental Change at Academia Sinica said yesterday.
"As of 2005, [Taiwan's] growth rate was over 110 percent since 1990, the base year of the Kyoto Protocol," Shaw C. Liu (劉紹臣) said in the legislature's Science, technology and Information committee.
Liu was asked by the committee to brief legislators on the general situation of the country's carbon-dioxide emissions and to offer suggestions for countermeasures.
Legislators were largely uninterested in the topic, with only three of them attending the discussion.
The meeting lasted about one hour.
Liu told the committee that the country had gained a certain "notoriety" in the international community because of the significant increase in carbon dioxide emissions and the government's inaction on the problem.
Each person in Taiwan generated an average of 12 tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2005, four times higher than the global average, he said.
"That figure is likely to increase in next few years," he said.
Liu said the trend in Taiwan was "terrifying," especially in light of Japan's success in cutting emissions, as have some Western European countries.
Liu attributed the problem to "much too low energy prices" in Taiwan.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chuang-chin (邱創進) was very receptive to the coments.
Economic affairs officials, however, were not as pleased.
Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-hsiang (施顏祥), who also attended the meeting, said the decision to raise the price of energy was a "highly political issue."
"Electricity and oil prices in Taiwan are lower than in other Asian countries ... but we can't propose a price increase until we have reached consensus," Shih said.
Responding to Shih, Chiu said that economic affairs officials should have dismissed the myth that cheap energy prices will lead to economic growth.
"It's the ministry's call [to come up with plan to combat global warming], but the ministry can't shake off its outdated way of thinking -- to encourage Petrochemical and steel factories -- that would produce great quantities of carbon dioxide emissions," Chiu said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ye Fang-hsiung (
The ministry said that for every 10oC raise in room temperature in a household, about 6.2kg of carbon dioxide is produced. But "the term 6.2kg of carbon dioxide emissions might not mean anything to the public," Ye said.
"It's better to show how many trees would die from the increase. We have to allow the public to identify with the issue," he said.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
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