A preparatory office for the Climate Change Administration is to be established on Saturday, which is Earth Day, to draft rules governing how carbon fees are to be levied, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said yesterday.
The new agency is to be part of the soon-to-be-established ministry of the environment.
While the draft “organic act of the ministry of the environment” has yet to pass a third reading at the legislature, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Feb. 15 signed the Climate Change Response Act (氣候變遷因應法).
Photo: Chen Chia-yi, Taipei Times
The EPA on Jan. 11 proposed the establishment of a temporary agency to handle climate change affairs.
The plan was approved by the Executive Yuan on March 20.
“However, as the Legislative Yuan on March 22 completed deliberations of the organic act of the ministry of the environment and its agencies, the Climate Change Administration would be established soon after the organic act secures a third reading,” the EPA said in a statement.
“To minimize changes during the transition, a preparatory office for the Climate Change Administration is to be established,” the agency added.
The preparatory office would mainly be in charge of drafting 12 sets of supporting rules for the implementation of the Climate Change Response Act, including to enforce carbon fee collection, to implement a voluntary carbon reduction program, to lay out carbon footprint product labeling standards and to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050, the EPA said.
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