The government must quickly reach a consensus on legislative amendments addressing climate change, environmental groups said yesterday after the legislature on Thursday discussed more than 20 proposed changes.
Six committees were debating proposed amendments to the Greenhouse Gas Reduction and Management Act (溫室氣體減量及管理法), which would set a goal of net zero emissions by 2050 among other climate-related provisions.
While the committees agreed on the 2050 goal, disagreements remained on more than 20 proposals regarding how it could be achieved.
Photo: Lo Chi, Taipei Times
Environmental groups yesterday issued a joint statement that included six recommendations.
The Environmental Rights Foundation, the Green Citizens’ Action Alliance, Citizen of the Earth, Taiwan, the Taiwan Environment and Planning Association, the Homemakers United Foundation and the Environmental Justice Foundation said that advancing the proposals to committee discussion does not mean that Taiwan has the capacity to face risks posed by climate change.
The rules should include provisions to increase the level of climate governance and grant equivalent authority to oversight agencies, the groups said.
The implementation targets for a proposed carbon fee should be improved, as should management mechanisms, to ensure efficacy and to allow room for it to eventually become a carbon tax, they said.
The amendments should prioritize adaptive strategies for communities as changes occur, given the effects of climate change on human rights, the groups said.
Local governance, transparency and public participation must be improved to leave no one behind, while also including provisions allowing public litigation, the groups said.
There needs to be a significant push for sources of renewable energy, as nuclear power is not an option in Taiwan, they said.
Many legislators at Thursday’s meeting took issue with a lack of interim goals leading up to 2050, but the groups said that they were unsure the proposals would be approved even if only short-term goals were involved.
The groups said that the legislature has agreed to continue negotiations over their six proposals, but no concrete progress has been made.
The public is unable to evaluate the government’s climate action while the changes are being deliberated, they said, calling on the Cabinet and the legislature to spend the next three months communicating with stakeholders about the provisions and pass the amendments before the UN Climate Change Conference in November.
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
China has reserved offshore airspace over the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts that are usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Sunday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. The alerts, known as notice to air missions (NOTAMs), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert
RSS