Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) was the nation’s largest carbon emitter in 2014, producing more than 37 percent of industrial carbon emissions, with Formosa Petrochemical Corp and China Steel Corp coming in second and third respectively, Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) data showed.
Taipower generated 84.59 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CDE) in 2014, accounting for 37.36 percent of total industrial carbon emissions, the data showed.
Formosa Petrochemical and China Steel produced 29.77 million tonnes and 19.38 million tonnes of CDE, accounting for 13.15 percent and 8.56 percent of total industrial emissions respectively, the EPA data showed.
The other high-level industrial emitters include: Mailiao Power Corp (5.24 percent), Dragon Steel Corp (4.31 percent), Heping Power Corp (3.49 percent), state-run oil refiner CPC Corp (3.4 percent), Formosa Chemicals and Fibre Corp (2.97 percent), Taiwan Cement Corp (2.25 percent) and Formosa Plastics Corp (1.83 percent), the data showed.
Factoring in emissions contributed by subsidiary companies, the Formosa Plastics Group, including Mailiao Power, accounted for 23.19 percent of industrial carbon emissions, while China Steel, parent company of Dragon Steel, contributed 12.87 percent.
Following the passage of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction and Management Act (溫室氣體減量及管理法) in July last year, the EPA earlier this month published the emissions data of the first group of industries to be subject to the act, including power, steelmaking, cement, semiconductor, liquid-crystal display and oil refining industries, and businesses that emit more than 25,000 tonnes of CDE every year.
More than 200 companies are regulated under the act, accounting for 88.9 percent of the nation’s total greenhouse gas emissions, the EPA said.
The total carbon emissions of the regulated industries was 226.4 million tonnes of CDE.
Taipower’s Taichung Power Plant alone contributed 17.5 percent to industrial carbon emissions.
Other individual contributions include Taipower’s Hsinda Plant in Kaohsiung (8.84 percent), China Steel’s complex in Kaohsiung (8.56 percent), Formosa’s Mailiao Plant No. 1 (7.43 percent), Formosa’s Mailiao cogeneration plant (5.24 percent), Dragon Steel’s complex in Taichung (4.31 percent), Taipower’s Datan Power Plant in Taoyuan (4.07 percent), Heping Power Plant in Hualien (3.49 percent), Formosa’s Mailiao Plant No. 3 (3.45 percent) and Formosa’s Mailiao Plant No. 2 (2.27 percent).
Taipower said its high emissions level was a consequence of power generation, but it would improve energy efficiency and increase the use of natural gas and renewable sources.
The EPA said it is drafting measures to incentivize industries to improve efficiency and reduce emissions in preparation for a carbon cap-and-trade system.
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