Greenpeace yesterday urged Taiwan to reduce its carbon emissions to help fight climate change.
Carbon reduction was a focus of the 25th Conference of the Parties (COP25) in Madrid, which ended on Sunday, Greenpeace project director Tang An (唐安) said.
Research indicates that even if all countries meet the carbon reduction goals they made in the 2015 Paris Agreement, the global average temperature would still rise 3°C by 2100, Tang said.
More than 80 nations are expected to submit improved carbon-cutting plans in the next few years, she said, adding that many have amended climate-related laws with a goal to reach zero net carbon emissions by 2050.
However, Taiwan’s approach has remained mostly the same since 2015, when the Greenhouse Gas Reduction and Management Act (溫室氣體減量及管理法) was passed with a goal to cut carbon emissions to 50 percent of 2005 levels by 2050, Tang said.
That goal already falls short of the UN’s recommendations and it seems unlikely that the nation would reach even the short-term target of cutting carbon emissions by 2 percent by next year, she said.
The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said it plans to amend the act and is to submit draft amendments in March.
Taiwan is one of only a few nations that has written its carbon goals into law, EPA Minister Chang Tzi-chin (張子敬) said.
In addition to writing it goals into the act in 2015, the government in the same year submitted its nationally determined contributions, which aim to cut emissions by 20 percent by 2030 compared with 2005 levels, Chang said.
The EPA would continue to work toward cutting emissions by 2 percent next year, he said.
Experience from the past four years shows that more tools and incentives are needed to improve results, he said.
In the draft amendments, the EPA would advocate enhancing government management of carbon reductions to bolster the fight against climate change, he said.
The government last year approved a program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and defined the responsibilities of key sectors to cut carbon, Department of Environmental Sanitation and Toxic Substance Management Director-General Tsai Ling-yi (蔡玲儀) said.
The EPA is preparing to set down carbon-cutting goals for each government department for 2020 to 2025, Tsai said, adding that it would ensure public participation in the decisionmaking process.
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “(we) appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
TRUMP ERA: The change has sparked speculation on whether it was related to the new US president’s plan to dismiss more than 1,000 Joe Biden-era appointees The US government has declined to comment on a post that indicated the departure of Laura Rosenberger as chair of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). Neither the US Department of State nor the AIT has responded to the Central News Agency’s questions on the matter, after Rosenberger was listed as a former chair on the AIT’s official Web site, with her tenure marked as 2023 to this year. US officials have said previously that they usually do not comment on personnel changes within the government. Rosenberger was appointed head of the AIT in 2023, during the administration of former US president Joe
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry