Taiwan’s tech and non-tech sectors have mixed reactions to the basic carbon fee recommended by a government review committee, with major electronics companies saying they are ready while petrochemical, steel and cement suppliers urged caution.
The committee on Monday recommended a basic fee of NT$300 per tonne of carbon emissions (tCO2), as well as preferential rates of NT$50/tCO2 and NT$100/tCO2 for companies that meet defined emissions reduction targets.
Carbon fees would not be collected until 2026, while next year would be used as a dry run in which large emitters would only have to report emissions amounts for this year, but would not have to pay carbon fees, the committee said.
Photo: CNA
The recommended fees still have to be approved by the Ministry of the Environment.
In response to the recommendations, the Taiwan Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers’ Association (電電公會) said it has arranged courses for its members every month to help them improve their operations and ease the impact of the new costs.
Many tech heavyweights in Taiwan have prepared themselves for the new rules, but smaller tech firms would need help from the government to mitigate the impact of the additional costs, it said.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) said it is determined to abide by the new carbon fee levies and has faith that the new costs would not affect its operations financially, while United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) said it would continue its efforts to cut carbon emissions by participating in the government’s schemes to reduce emissions voluntarily and push emission reduction plans.
UMC added that it would apply for carbon offset projects and buy carbon credits on carbon exchanges, while introducing negative emissions technologies and seeking cheaper renewable energy.
However, the Petrochemical Industry Association of Taiwan (石化公會) said the petrochemical industry has been struggling in the regional markets amid overproduction by China and the removal of preferential tariffs on exports to China.
It urged the government to pay close attention to the added financial burden of the new fees, but added that its members would comply with the new carbon fee rules.
China Steel Corp (中鋼) said the carbon fees would no doubt create more challenges, and estimated that it would have to pay NT$200 million to NT$400 million a year under the new system.
TCC Group Holdings Co (台泥企業團) chairman Nelson Chang (張安平) said the best-ever price for cement produced in the country was NT$3,000 per tonne, but if suppliers have to pay NT$3,000 in carbon fees per tonne by 2030, few companies would want to produce cement in Taiwan.
If Taiwan has to completely depend on imported cement, it would deal a hard blow to the nation’s heavy industries, Chang said.
Taiwan’s rapidly aging population is fueling a sharp increase in homes occupied solely by elderly people, a trend that is reshaping the nation’s housing market and social fabric, real-estate brokers said yesterday. About 850,000 residences were occupied by elderly people in the first quarter, including 655,000 that housed only one resident, the Ministry of the Interior said. The figures have nearly doubled from a decade earlier, Great Home Realty Co (大家房屋) said, as people aged 65 and older now make up 20.8 percent of the population. “The so-called silver tsunami represents more than just a demographic shift — it could fundamentally redefine the
The US government on Wednesday sanctioned more than two dozen companies in China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, including offshoots of a US chip firm, accusing the businesses of providing illicit support to Iran’s military or proxies. The US Department of Commerce included two subsidiaries of US-based chip distributor Arrow Electronics Inc (艾睿電子) on its so-called entity list published on the federal register for facilitating purchases by Iran’s proxies of US tech. Arrow spokesman John Hourigan said that the subsidiaries have been operating in full compliance with US export control regulations and his company is discussing with the US Bureau of
Businesses across the global semiconductor supply chain are bracing themselves for disruptions from an escalating trade war, after China imposed curbs on rare earth mineral exports and the US responded with additional tariffs and restrictions on software sales to the Asian nation. China’s restrictions, the most targeted move yet to limit supplies of rare earth materials, represent the first major attempt by Beijing to exercise long-arm jurisdiction over foreign companies to target the semiconductor industry, threatening to stall the chips powering the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. They prompted US President Donald Trump on Friday to announce that he would impose an additional
China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空) said it expects peak season effects in the fourth quarter to continue to boost demand for passenger flights and cargo services, after reporting its second-highest-ever September sales on Monday. The carrier said it posted NT$15.88 billion (US$517 million) in consolidated sales last month, trailing only September last year’s NT$16.01 billion. Last month, CAL generated NT$8.77 billion from its passenger flights and NT$5.37 billion from cargo services, it said. In the first nine months of this year, the carrier posted NT$154.93 billion in cumulative sales, up 2.62 percent from a year earlier, marking the second-highest level for the January-September
RSS