Government agencies last year successfully hit Cabinet-set standards on the purchase of environmentally-friendly products, according to the Environmental Protection Administration yesterday.
The Cabinet marked out 27 products commonly used in government offices, including computers, stationary and air-conditioners, and set agencies the goal of spending at least 50 percent of the budgets allocated for these resources on environmentally-friendly goods.
According to EPA statistics released yesterday, the government last year spent NT$2.65 billion on environmentally-friendly products listed by the Cabinet, accounting for 65.6 percent of the total.
The statistics also showed that 29 out of 36 Cabinet-subordinate agencies and 23 out of 25 counties and cities reached the 50-percent goal.
"The government's attempts to promote green consumption will further broaden the market for green purchasers," Ke Chih-hung (
The Atomic Energy Council, the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics and the National Science Council were the worst performers in the Cabinet initiative with 12.93, 29.07 and 30.36 percent of their allocated budgets spent on environmentally-friendly products respectively.
Ke said that eight more products will be added to the Cabinet's list next year in order to boost payments for environmental-friendly products up to NT$5 billion.
The eight items will include office photo copiers and notebook computers.
Ke said that green purchasing was heavily promoted by the UN World Summit on Sustainable Development -- held last year in Johannesburg, South Africa -- by encouraging governments to develop public-purchasing policies that promote environmental-friendly products and services in action plans.
According to Yu Ning (于寧), president of the Environmental and Development Foundation the establishment of a green-purchasing alliance composed of governmental officials and representatives of private companies would be the next step in promoting the adoption of green products.
"Through joining the alliance, the concept of green consumption will be transferred from the government to the private sector," Yu said.
Yu said, however, that the recent recession made it more difficult to promote environmental-friendly products, the prices of which are higher than non-green products.
Travel agencies in Taiwan are working to secure alternative flights for travelers bound for New Zealand for the Lunar New Year holiday, as Air New Zealand workers are set to strike next week. The airline said that it has confirmed that the planned industrial action by its international wide-body cabin crew would go ahead on Thursday and Friday next week. While the Auckland-based carrier pledged to take reasonable measures to mitigate the impact of the workers’ strike, an Air New Zealand flight arriving at Taipei from Auckland on Thursday and another flight departing from Taipei for Auckland on Saturday would have to
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
RSS