Legislators from three political parties last week called for the creation of a climate action law.
More than a dozen members of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) and the New Power Party expressed support for the law at a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei.
DPP Legislator Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) said he submitted a draft of a climate action act in December last year that included a goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2050 and setting up a climate change coordination post at the Executive Yuan.
Net zero emissions means Taiwan would remove the same amount of human-caused greenhouse gases it produces through reduction measures.
The Legislative Yuan has not yet begun to discuss the draft, as it typically waits for the Executive Yuan to propose its own version of the same bill before beginning discussions.
The Environmental Protection Administration has already proposed a climate action act, but it still needs to pass a lengthy administrative procedure before it can be sent to the Legislative Yuan, Hung said.
This process is expected to take months, he added, calling on the Executive Yuan to speed up the process.
Japan and South Korea have created industry-oriented action plans to combat climate change and Taiwan should do the same as soon as possible, he said.
Deputy Legislative Speaker Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌), a member of the DPP, said that climate change is not just an environmental issue, but also an economic one, as Taiwanese companies might be unable to secure overseas orders if they fail to adopt sustainable measures.
The economy and the environment should no longer be regarded as two opposing forces, but instead should be seen as an intertwined whole, he said.
TPP Legislator Chiu Chen-yuan (邱臣遠) said that lawmakers from all parties should work to create a long-term climate change plan.
Taiwan’s law related to climate change — the Greenhouse Gas Reduction and Management Act (溫室氣體減量及管理法) — is not sufficiently ambitious in its goals, which is why there is an urgent need for a climate action act, DPP Legislator Lai Pin-yu (賴品妤) said.
The current act aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 to no more than 50 percent of those emitted in 2005, which does not come close to the goal of zero net emissions by 2050, she said.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
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