On Earth Day each year, celebrities and other well-known people from various walks of life mark the event by switching off lights in a symbolic gesture showing that they cherish the Earth.
This year’s Earth Day was a little different, because national representatives were in New York to sign the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, a follow-up agreement to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The Paris Agreement, which was formally adopted in December last year, demonstrates a worldwide commitment to curbing climate change.
However, if people are to achieve this goal, it would take much more than the symbolic act of switching off lights; it would require a radical transformation of energy structures.
The Paris Agreement demands that its signatories work to limit global warming to within 2?C above pre-industrial temperatures and try to keep the increase below 1.5?C, and it sets a further target of reaching net-zero carbon emissions in the second half of the century.
Beginning in 2014, to help the Paris Climate Conference achieve a consensus, more than 180 nations submitted their national climate change pledges, which are called “intended nationally determined contributions,” declaring each nation’s intended peak year for carbon emissions along with a timetable for its energy transition. The commitments, along with a focus on discussion about energy resources during the course of the Paris conference, make it clear that the age of carbon pricing is coming.
The global tide of carbon reduction is influencing the direction of national policy and driving market trends. Since last year, Apple Inc’s offices, shops and data centers in the US, China, Canada and other nations have achieved their goal of 100 percent renewable energy use. Following the example set by IKEA, which has pledged to achieve 100 percent renewable energy use by 2020, US information technology giant HP Inc last month made the same pledge. HP has also followed in the footsteps of Google, Starbucks and other well-known corporations by signing the RE100 initiative, a commitment by companies to go 100 percent “renewable.”
As the trend progresses, trade barriers related to renewable energy are quietly taking shape. This means that if Taiwan’s energy structure stays as it is, Taiwanese companies are likely to find it very hard to maintain their position in the supply chain. The challenges range from Phase 3 of the EU Emissions Trading System to the natural trade barriers formed by corporations’ independent renewable energy transition initiatives.
If Taiwan wants to speed up the development of its sources of renewable energy, its needs to amend the Electricity Act (電業法) and implement complementary measures to remove legal restrictions and dismantle the existing model of energy generation and transmission that is controlled by the state-owned Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台灣電力公司) to promote free competition among alternative energy suppliers and make progress in the field of distributed sources of energy.
An energy tax would serve to internalize the thermal power industry’s environmental costs. To prevent power stations from being monopolized by corporations after the energy industry is liberalized, further steps should be taken to make power stations more localized. This could increase local governments’ sources of revenue, provide employment opportunities and improve local energy autonomy.
Transition to alternative energy sources would allow Taiwanese businesses to regain their position in the international market and it could turn a crisis into an opportunity for Taiwan, whose degree of energy autonomy is extremely low. By developing distributed, decentralized and non-consumptive sources of energy, the nation could regain control of its energy needs. For young people in Taiwan, this wave of transformation can also bring sustainable “green” employment opportunities.
At this crucial time, it is to be hoped that the transformation of Taiwan’s energy sources can proceed as fast as possible.
In brief, subsidies for petrochemical fuels should be abolished, the Electricity Act should be amended, an energy tax should be imposed to internalize external costs and local energy sources should be vigorously developed. The measures would enable Taiwan to keep moving forward as it swims with the tide of “green” business revolution.
Hsu Wan-ting is executive director of the Taiwan Youth Climate Coalition. Chao Kung-yueh is executive director of international affairs of the Meteorological Society of the Republic of China-Taiwan. Lin Tze-luen is president of the International Climate Development Institute.
Translated by Julian Clegg
The gutting of Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA) by US President Donald Trump’s administration poses a serious threat to the global voice of freedom, particularly for those living under authoritarian regimes such as China. The US — hailed as the model of liberal democracy — has the moral responsibility to uphold the values it champions. In undermining these institutions, the US risks diminishing its “soft power,” a pivotal pillar of its global influence. VOA Tibetan and RFA Tibetan played an enormous role in promoting the strong image of the US in and outside Tibet. On VOA Tibetan,
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), the leader of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), caused a national outrage and drew diplomatic condemnation on Tuesday after he arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office dressed in a Nazi uniform. Sung performed a Nazi salute and carried a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf as he arrived to be questioned over allegations of signature forgery in the recall petition. The KMT’s response to the incident has shown a striking lack of contrition and decency. Rather than apologizing and distancing itself from Sung’s actions,
US President Trump weighed into the state of America’s semiconductor manufacturing when he declared, “They [Taiwan] stole it from us. They took it from us, and I don’t blame them. I give them credit.” At a prior White House event President Trump hosted TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家), head of the world’s largest and most advanced chip manufacturer, to announce a commitment to invest US$100 billion in America. The president then shifted his previously critical rhetoric on Taiwan and put off tariffs on its chips. Now we learn that the Trump Administration is conducting a “trade investigation” on semiconductors which
By now, most of Taiwan has heard Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an’s (蔣萬安) threats to initiate a vote of no confidence against the Cabinet. His rationale is that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)-led government’s investigation into alleged signature forgery in the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) recall campaign constitutes “political persecution.” I sincerely hope he goes through with it. The opposition currently holds a majority in the Legislative Yuan, so the initiation of a no-confidence motion and its passage should be entirely within reach. If Chiang truly believes that the government is overreaching, abusing its power and targeting political opponents — then
RSS