Greenhouse gas emissions have continued to decrease since a post-COVID-19 pandemic spike in 2021, achieving an annual reduction of 3.02 percent in 2023, the latest National Greenhouse Gas Inventory showed.
The Ministry of Environment yesterday published the latest edition of the inventory, saying that the amount of domestic greenhouse gas emissions is on a downward trend.
Total greenhouse gas emissions in Taiwan were 278.63 megatonnes, down by 4.48 percent compared with the baseline year in 2005, the ministry said.
Photo: CNA
With 21.73 megatonnes of carbon sinks deducted, the net emissions were 256.90 megatonnes, down 4.64 percent from the baseline year and by 3.02 percent from 2022, it said.
Climate Change Administration Net Zero Emissions Promotion Division Director Wen Yu-yung (溫育勇) said the waste sector’s emission reduction rate of 5.7 percent — or 154 kilotonnes — was higher than all the other sectors in 2023, thanks to wastewater treatment and landfill reduction.
The energy sector’s emissions accounted for about 90 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions and had the highest annual cut of about 7.641 megatonnes, or 2.94 percent, among all sectors in 2023, Wen said, adding that the reduction was achieved mainly by restricted fuel combustion.
The ministry said the annual amount of greenhouse gas emissions had peaked in 2007 and then declined until it spiked in 2021 due to the easing of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The emission curve went down again in 2022 and dropped steadily in 2023, it said.
In terms of greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide made up the most at 95.86 percent in 2023, followed by methane (1.6 percent) and nitrous oxide (1.31 percent), the ministry said.
Primary sources of carbon dioxide were fuel combustion by factories and vehicles, while methane was generated mainly from animal husbandry and landfills, Wen said.
The ministry said the intensity was 11.4g of carbon dioxide per New Taiwan dollar in 2023, down by 4.14 percent from the previous year and 44.62 percent from the baseline year.
That reflected improved energy efficiency over the past two decades, it said.
Up to 40 nations have published their greenhouse gas emission inventories online as of this year, the ministry said.
Taiwan is not a UN member state, but would align with international standards nevertheless, it said.
The government has been compiling and publishing the inventory in accordance with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, the ministry said, adding that Taiwan’s inventory data had been adopted by international entities such as Germany’s Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.
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