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.
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