The Executive Yuan plans to re-evaluate Taiwan’s carbon emissions goal by the end of next year, in line with the Glasgow Climate Pact, Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) Minister Chang Tzi-chin (張子敬) said yesterday.
Under the Glasgow Climate Pact — an agreement reached at this year’s UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), which concluded earlier this month — countries should “revisit and strengthen” their targets for 2030 to align with the temperature goal set in the 2015 Paris Agreement.
The goal set by the Paris Agreement would limit global warming to less than 2°C, preferably to 1.5°C, compared with pre-industrial levels.
Chang yesterday said at a legislative hearing that in keeping with the pact, the Executive Yuan would re-evaluate Taiwan’s carbon emission goals for 2030 by the end of next year.
Taiwan’s official emissions reduction target is stated in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction and Management Act (溫室氣體減量及管理法), passed in 2015, which calls for an emissions reduction of at least 50 percent of 2005’s levels by 2050.
The EPA states on its Web site that it aims to reduce carbon emission levels to 20 percent below those of 2005 by 2030, and that carbon emissions last year decreased by 2 percent against 2005 levels.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in April said that Taiwan was making “relevant preparations” to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, in line with the goals of the international community.
Chang also said yesterday that a climate action act that the EPA is drafting is to include rules on carbon pricing, with the revenue being invested in measures to decrease emissions.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) put Taiwan in danger, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said yesterday, hours after the de facto US embassy said that Beijing had misinterpreted World War II-era documents to isolate Taiwan. The AIT’s comments harmed the Republic of China’s (ROC) national interests and contradicted a part of the “six assurances” stipulating that the US would not change its official position on Taiwan’s sovereignty, Hsiao said. The “six assurances,” which were given by then-US president Ronald Reagan to Taiwan in 1982, say that Washington would not set a date for ending arm sales to Taiwan, consult
A Taiwanese academic yesterday said that Chinese Ambassador to Denmark Wang Xuefeng (王雪峰) disrespected Denmark and Japan when he earlier this year allegedly asked Japan’s embassy to make Taiwan’s representatives leave an event in Copenhagen. The Danish-language Berlingske on Sunday reported the incident in an article with the headline “The emperor’s birthday ended in drama in Copenhagen: More conflict may be on the way between Denmark and China.” It said that on Feb. 26, the Japanese embassy in Denmark held an event for Japanese Emperor Naruhito’s birthday, with about 200 guests in attendance, including representatives from Taiwan. After addressing the Japanese hosts, Wang
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