The Taipei City Government yesterday passed a resolution to work toward a goal set by the agreement reached at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris earlier this month by cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2030.
The city is to use its 2004 emissions figure as the baseline for determining its 15-year goal.
Taipei Department of Environmental Protection Deputy Commissioner Lu Shih-chang (盧世昌) said the resolution, passed during a city policy meeting, demonstrated the city’s resolve to meet an international goal of capping the rise in global temperatures by 2?C and then reducing that level to 1.5?C if possible.
The city’s long-term goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 800 tonnes by 2050, which would be half the amount it produced in 2005, a goal that aligns with the goal set in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction and Management Act (溫室氣體減量及管理法) enacted in July, Lu said.
According to department statistics, Taipei emitted 1,455 tonnes of greenhouse gases last year.
The city plans to examine its carbon reduction efforts every five years and publish the amount of its annual carbon emissions in accordance with resolutions made at the Paris meeting, Lu said.
The department plans to have a program by June to regulate six greenhouses gas sources: transportation, housing and commerce, industry, waste, forests and agriculture.
The two largest sources of greenhouse gases are housing and commerce, accounting for 62 percent of the total, followed by transportation at 36 percent, Lu said.
The department hopes to ratify its plans in a “Taipei livable city” bylaw, which is in the process of being drafted, and would require residents to adopt energy-saving steps — for example, buildings would likely have to turn off their decorative lights after 1am, Lu said.
He said the department hopes that Taipei’s announcement of its greenhouse gas reduction goals would inspire other municipalities to follow suit.
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