The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a carbon pricing scheme to be imposed in phases starting with large emitters, with preferential rates granted to enterprises working to reduce their carbon output.
Although details are still being decided, the scheme would involve differential pricing to encourage emissions reduction, Environmental Protection Administration Deputy Minister Tsai Hung-teh (蔡鴻德) told a news conference after the weekly Cabinet meeting.
Phased implementation would begin with large emitters, meaning enterprises that produce more than 25,000 tonnes of carbon per year, Tsai said.
Photo: CNA
Other groups would be added successively after the initial law is passed, he added.
As for when the carbon fee would be introduced, Tsai estimated sometime in 2024 or 2025.
The scheme is included in sweeping amendments to the Greenhouse Gas Reduction and Management Act (溫室氣體減量及管理法) approved by the Cabinet yesterday, to be renamed the “climate change response act” if enacted.
The changes most notably seek to bring the law in line with the government’s goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.
The act currently aims to cut emissions to less than half of 2005 levels by 2050, a target derided by climate activists as unambitious.
Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) lauded the passage as another milestone to commemorate Earth Day today, after President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) a year earlier marked the occasion by setting the carbon neutrality goal.
Recognizing the urgent need to amend the conflicting target in climate law, Su told attendees at a meeting of the National Council of Sustainable Development in August last year to expedite the process.
Yesterday’s approval and a net-zero emissions road map released by the National Development Council late last month “are not only the first step to completing a legal system to support climate action, but are also significant for their signaling and substance,” Su said.
He also highlighted other important additions to the law, including a special clause on adaptation to climate change, clarifying the sustainable development council’s role as coordinator and requiring local governments to convene climate response committees.
With an eye to economic concerns, apart from carbon pricing, the amendments also include provisions to develop talent and technologies to help combat climate change, he added.
CALL FOR SUPPORT: President William Lai called on lawmakers across party lines to ensure the livelihood of Taiwanese and that national security is protected President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday called for bipartisan support for Taiwan’s investment in self-defense capabilities at the christening and launch of two coast guard vessels at CSBC Corp, Taiwan’s (台灣國際造船) shipyard in Kaohsiung. The Taipei (台北) is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels, and the Siraya (西拉雅) is the Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) first-ever ocean patrol vessel, the government said. The Taipei is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels with a displacement of about 4,000 tonnes, Lai said. This ship class was ordered as a result of former president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) 2018
‘SECRETS’: While saying China would not attack during his presidency, Donald Trump declined to say how Washington would respond if Beijing were to take military action US President Donald Trump said that China would not take military action against Taiwan while he is president, as the Chinese leaders “know the consequences.” Trump made the statement during an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes program that aired on Sunday, a few days after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea. “He [Xi] has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘we would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” Trump said in the interview. However, he repeatedly declined to say exactly how Washington would respond in
WARFARE: All sectors of society should recognize, unite, and collectively resist and condemn Beijing’s cross-border suppression, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said The number of Taiwanese detained because of legal affairs by Chinese authorities has tripled this year, as Beijing intensified its intimidation and division of Taiwanese by combining lawfare and cognitive warfare, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) made the statement in response to questions by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Puma Shen (沈柏洋) about the government’s response to counter Chinese public opinion warfare, lawfare and psychological warfare. Shen said he is also being investigated by China for promoting “Taiwanese independence.” He was referring to a report published on Tuesday last week by China’s state-run Xinhua news agency,
‘ADDITIONAL CONDITION’: Taiwan will work with like-minded countries to protect its right to participate in next year’s meeting, the foreign ministry said The US will “continue to press China for security arrangements and protocols that safeguard all participants when attending APEC meetings in China,” a US Department of State spokesperson said yesterday, after Beijing suggested that members must adhere to its “one China principle” to participate. “The United States insists on the full and equal participation of all APEC member economies — including Taiwan — consistent with APEC’s guidelines, rules and established practice, as affirmed by China in its offer to host in 2026,” the unnamed spokesperson said in response to media queries about China putting a “one China” principle condition on Taiwan’s
RSS