Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) Deputy Minister Yeh Shin-cheng (葉欣誠) yesterday said Taiwan’s drop in the Climate Change Performance Index 2013 (CCPI 2013) was mainly attributable to a change in the index’s evaluation criteria, adding that the government would continue its efforts to reduce carbon emissions.
The CCPI is conducted annually by non-governmental organizations Germanwatch and Climate Action Network Europe to evaluate the climate protection performance of the 58 countries that are responsible for more than 90 percent of all carbon emissions. The assessment is based on emissions indicators, renewable energy, efficiency and the analyses of more than 230 climate experts from around the world.
The CCPI 2013 report was published on Monday and although Taiwan’s score increased from 49.0 last year to 49.4 this year, it dropped four places in the index’s ranking to 52.
Speaking to the EPA from Doha, Qatar, via the Internet, Yeh said the reason for the drop in ranking was because the index employed a revised methodology that placed a stronger emphasis on renewable energy and efficiency.
Taiwan’s ranking remained in the “very poor” category as it has in previous years, Yeh said, adding that one reason could be that the NGOs may not have collected the most up to date information and progress in Taiwan, such as the promulgation of six types of greenhouse gases as regulated air pollutants in May.
The EPA added that scores were evaluated on five aspects and a total of 15 indicators, on which Taiwan’s performance in emissions levels, emissions development and renewable energy was weak, and only moderately strong on efficiency and policy.
In addition, the nation scored poorly on emissions levels target-performance comparison, share of renewable energy in total primary energy supply and carbon dioxide emissions per capita, the EPA said.
Yeh said the government would continue its efforts to improve the nation’s performance, through measures such as the enforcement of the Renewable Energy Act (再生能源法), enactment of an energy management law and a gas reduction bill, and energy tax regulation.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching