Taiwan is unlikely to gain much support from other countries if it fails to set stricter goals to curb carbon dioxide emissions, the Taiwan Environmental Protection Union (TEPU) said yesterday.
Gloria Hsu (徐光蓉), a member of the academic committee at TEPU, said that Taiwan is categorized as a developed industrialized country. The goals it has set to curb carbon emissions, however, are lax compared with other countries at the same level of development.
“We essentially have done nothing, like China or India,” Hsu said. “So why do others have to accept us when we say we want to join [the UN Framework Conference on Climate Change, UNFCCC]? If we want people to support us, the first thing we must do is set goals that are similar to those adopted by other industrialized countries.”
She said the government must determine whether Taiwan belongs to the group of industrialized nations or developing nations. Then it needs to set stricter goals and timelines as well as other complementary measures before executing the plan. The nation would garner more support to participate in the UNFCCC if it takes measures to reduce its greenhouse gas and carbon dioxide emissions, she said.
Although most industrialized countries did not reject the advice of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which suggested they reduce carbon dioxide emissions by between 25 percent and 40 percent of 1990 levels by 2020, Hsu said they were only committing to reduce emissions by about 19 percent.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
MORE NEEDED: Recall drives against legislators in Miaoli’s two districts and Hsinchu’s second district were still a few thousand signatures short of the second-stage threshold Campaigners aiming to recall Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday said they expect success in 30 out of 35 districts where drives have passed the second-stage threshold, which would mark a record number of recall votes held at once. Hsinchu County recall campaigners yesterday announced that they reached the second-stage threshold in the recall effort against Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘). A total of 26,414 signatures have been gathered over the past two months, surpassing the 10 percent threshold of 23,287 in Hsinchu County’s second electoral district, chief campaigner Hsieh Ting-ting (謝婷婷) said. “Our target is to gather an additional 1,500 signatures to reach
RSS