Aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) will sign formal memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with associations of industries making semiconductors and thin-film transistor liquid-crystal displays (TFT-LCD) at the end of this year to ensure that this country will shoulder its responsibilities for global sustainable development.
Since the 1980s, scientific evidence has shown the correlation between global warming and emission of certain gases. Scientists agree that the concentration of "greenhouse gases" in the atmosphere is increasing and that the world is getting warmer.
Six greenhouse gases are covered under the Kyoto Protocol, the treaty set by the UN to set quantified targets for reducing the emission of greenhouse gases by industrialized countries, and to establish policies and measures according to the specific circumstances of the countries involved.
Although Taiwan is not a member of the UN, EPA officials said that the country would never try to dodge its responsibilities to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.
In addition to carbon dioxide, Taiwan needs to curb its emissions of perfluorocarbons (PFCs) produced by the production of semiconductors and TFT-LCDs, the officials said. Taiwanese companies now share more than 30 percent of the global market in these industries.
"We need to be well-prepared. If not, domestic firms in these industries might fail to meet environmental demands from the international community," Deputy EPA Administrator Tsay Ting-kuei (
According to Leu Horng-guang (
For the semiconductor industry, a global voluntary target is to bring the average emission levels of PFCs in 1997 to 1998 down by 10 percent by 2010. The Taiwan Semiconductor Industry Association is committed to that goal.
The Taiwan TFT-LCD Association has reached a consensus with its counterparts in Japan and South Korea to reduce the aggregate absolute emissions of PFCs from the TFT-LCD fabrication facilities to less than 0.82 MMTCE (million tonnes of carbon equivalent) by the year 2010.
"The EPA will help the two associations to reach global goals aiming to reduce the emission of PFCs by offering up-to-date information, auditing local greenhouse gas emissions and seeking possible substitutes," Leu said.
Inspired by a recently-released film The Day After Tomorrow, Leu said that the EPA had asked its research associates to produce a short film showing how the Taipei metropolitian area would be effected by such massive flooding.
The scenario will be based on the scientific assumption that concentration of carbon dioxide of the planet will double its 1990 level.
The short film will be distributed to schools for environmental education at the end of this year.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and