The 12th APEC Energy Ministerial Meeting was held on Oct. 13 in Cebu, the Philippines. Ministers agreed to promote dialogue on green energy finance in the region and an APEC Green Energy Finance Initiative was established this year following its proposal by Taiwan.
This initiative aims to overcome the current barriers to financial sustainability in the renewable energy and energy efficiency fields. As the leader of this initiative, Taiwan is to provide a platform on which to share information and knowledge and promote regional public-private partnerships (PPPs) in green energy finance.
The private sector’s role in global energy and environmental governance has shifted from marginal to central. At the 15th UN Climate Change Global Conference in 2009, industrialized nations committed to raising US$100 billion to assist developing countries to address climate change. It soon became obvious that this could not be achieved without private investments. Thus, international energy investment is a crucial catalyst for a low-carbon future.
In practice, international energy investment and environmental protection involve both synergistic and conflicting relations. On the one hand, foreign investment can harness financial and technological resources to promote environmental protection through various policy instruments, such as environmental funds, environmental PPPs, land use inducements and other market mechanisms linked to the Kyoto Protocol.
On the other hand, foreign investment, even “green” energy investments, might adversely affect the natural environment and cultural heritage of the host state (for example pollution, land grabs and destruction of biodiversity).
In September 2012, residents from Miaoli County’s Yuanli Township (苑裡) protested against the construction of a wind turbine by German company InfraVest. Residents were concerned about aesthetics and the density and close proximity of wind turbines to their homes. They believed that long-term exposure to the low-frequency noise produced by the turbines could lead to various health issues.
A number of international organizations have been working on the interaction between international investment policies and environmental issues. The UN Conference on Trade and Development issued this year’s Investment Policy Framework for Sustainable Development. The majority of newly concluded international investment agreements contain specific chapters and clauses that are related to environmental concerns, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership. All these efforts ultimately seek to bridge the gap between investment policies and environmental protection.
The nation is now devoted to improving energy resilience at global, regional and national levels. In addition to the recent APEC initiative achievements, Taiwan is signing memorandums of understanding with individual nations for energy cooperation.
However, given the negative impact of energy investment, authorities should also put emphasis on safeguarding and accountability mechanisms for addressing environmental and social risks.
With coherence between investment and environmental policies, Taiwan has the potential to be a worldwide entrepreneur, not only in green energy technologies, but also in regulatory and policy innovations for sustainable development.
Yang Chung-han is a doctoral candidate at the University of Cambridge, and is researching the implications of contemporary international investment law for the regulation of energy and natural resources. He is also a qualified attorney of the International Affairs Committee, Taipei Bar Association.
US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) were born under the sign of Gemini. Geminis are known for their intelligence, creativity, adaptability and flexibility. It is unlikely, then, that the trade conflict between the US and China would escalate into a catastrophic collision. It is more probable that both sides would seek a way to de-escalate, paving the way for a Trump-Xi summit that allows the global economy some breathing room. Practically speaking, China and the US have vulnerabilities, and a prolonged trade war would be damaging for both. In the US, the electoral system means that public opinion
They did it again. For the whole world to see: an image of a Taiwan flag crushed by an industrial press, and the horrifying warning that “it’s closer than you think.” All with the seal of authenticity that only a reputable international media outlet can give. The Economist turned what looks like a pastiche of a poster for a grim horror movie into a truth everyone can digest, accept, and use to support exactly the opinion China wants you to have: It is over and done, Taiwan is doomed. Four years after inaccurately naming Taiwan the most dangerous place on
Wherever one looks, the United States is ceding ground to China. From foreign aid to foreign trade, and from reorganizations to organizational guidance, the Trump administration has embarked on a stunning effort to hobble itself in grappling with what his own secretary of state calls “the most potent and dangerous near-peer adversary this nation has ever confronted.” The problems start at the Department of State. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has asserted that “it’s not normal for the world to simply have a unipolar power” and that the world has returned to multipolarity, with “multi-great powers in different parts of the
On Wednesday, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) drew parallels between the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) under President William Lai (賴清德) now and the fascism of Germany under Adolf Hitler. The German Institute Taipei, Berlin’s de facto embassy in Taiwan, expressed on social media its “deep disappointment and concern” over the comments. “We must state unequivocally: Taiwan today is in no way comparable to the tyranny of National Socialism,” it said, referring to the Nazi Party. “We are disappointed and concerned to learn about the inappropriate comparison between the atrocities of the Nazi regime and the current political context
RSS