Minister of Environment Peng Chi-ming (彭啟明) on Thursday compared the government’s stated goal to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 to a “moon landing,” suggesting that Taiwan should “rethink” its strategy.
“I must say that [the bid to achieve] net zero emissions by 2050 is like the moon landing” in the 1960s, Peng said of the blueprint put forward by the government in 2022 at a news conference shortly after the National Climate Change Response Committee convened for the first time earlier in the day.
Describing such efforts as “extremely challenging,” Peng suggested that the nation should “rethink” its strategy about reducing carbon emissions.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kun, Taipei Times
Meanwhile, Presidential Office spokesman Xavier Chang (張惇涵) said that members of the committee had “constructive and comprehensive” discussions during the four-hour meeting.
The committee members agreed that Taiwan should develop renewable energy and that the government should establish a platform to disclose information on different energy sources, he said.
On nuclear policy, Chang cited President William Lai (賴清德) as saying in the discussions that to the government, “societal consensus” on how to ensure safety and deal with nuclear waste remains crucial.
Lai said that under that premise, the government was open to nuclear energy options.
In his opening remarks, Lai also said that the energy issue has never been simple and binary, and it requires society to “confront problems with honesty” and “come up with practical solutions.”
A “nuclear-free homeland” is not an ideological issue unique to the Democratic Progressive Party, Lai said before the committee convened.
He added that phasing out nuclear power was already codified in the Basic Environment Act (環境基本法) adopted by the legislature in 2002, at a time when the DPP was a minority.
The National Climate Change Response Committee is one of the three committees that Lai established under the Presidential Office in June.
Lai presides over the ad hoc group with Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君), Academia Sinica President James Liao (廖俊智) and Pegatron Corp chairman Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢) also on the committee as deputy conveners.
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