About 40 percent of Taiwanese companies are not clear about the government’s plans to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 and many are concerned about heavy carbon taxes on big emitters, a survey released last week by the Chinese National Federation of Industries (全國工業總會) showed.
Fifty-nine percent of the companies polled said they are aware of the government’s pledge to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, meaning that 41 percent of respondents are unclear about the policy, the federation said, after polling its members from Oct. 26 to Monday last week.
Eighty-eight percent of respondents said they support including the policy in a climate bill and expressed the hope that the government would cooperate with the private sector and the public to achieve the goal, rather than force a few sectors to cut carbon emissions, it said.
Photo: Lee Ya-wen, Taipei Times
Policymakers should consider adjusting the nation’s energy mix and making carbon reduction a part of people’s everyday life, it said.
Seventy-three percent of respondents agreed that imposing carbon taxes or fees would rein in carbon emissions and 47 percent proposed setting the charge at NT$100 per tonne of emissions.
Federation members believe that an emissions-trading scheme coupled with carbon restrictions would best help mitigate the policy’s negative effects on industry, the trade group said.
It urged policymakers to learn from other countries, instead of depending on data from a single nation when making decisions about carbon taxes.
The government should also draw up a distinct and detailed formula for carbon taxes for different sectors and preferably introduce floating rates in phases, such as oil prices, so that small and medium-sized enterprises can better absorb the costs and implement the policy, it said.
The energy issue would play an important role in achieving carbon neutrality and 83 percent of respondents believe the government should re-examine the nation’s energy structure when seeking to reduce carbon emissions, the federation said.
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