The Ministry of Environment yesterday unveiled regulations governing carbon fee collection, autonomous emission reduction and greenhouse gas reduction targets for carbon fee payers in a bid to prepare industries for carbon pricing.
Fee collection would not begin until 2026, with next year to be a preparation window for fee-paying enterprises, the ministry said.
However, fee-liable businesses would still be required to report their 2024 emissions during this grace period.
Photo: Chen Chia-yi, Taipei Times
Taiwan’s carbon fee scheme would apply to 281 electric utility companies, natural gas suppliers and manufacturers who accounted for 54 percent of the nation’s total carbon emissions per year, officials said.
The criteria for paying carbon fees is ownership of an industrial facility that emits at least 25,000 tonnes of carbon a year, of which there are 500, they said.
The data are based on a 2002 industrial survey, the officials said.
The fifth carbon fee assessment and evaluation conference is to convene on Sept. 9 to set carbon rates and formalize a timetable by the end of the year, Minister of Environment Peng Chi-ming (彭啟明) said.
Companies are expected to submit emission reports starting in May next year and payments would commence the following year, he said.
The tentative schedule is designed to give enterprises sufficient time to set corporate emission reduction targets for 2030 and submit action plans to achieve that goal to the government, Peng said.
Climate Change Administration Director-General Tsai Ling-yi (蔡玲儀) said that 10 government-business conferences would be held to facilitate the adoption of reduction strategies and technologies.
Carbon fee payers may buy domestic carbon credits from voluntary reduction projects at a discount of one carbon credit for 1.2 tonnes of emissions capped at 10 percent of chargeable emissions, ministry officials said.
Enterprises not engaged in high-emission activities would be allowed to buy domestic or approved international carbon credits at a discount of one carbon credit for 1.3 tonnes of emission capped at 5 percent of chargeable emissions, they said.
Meanwhile, Taiwan Carbon Solution Exchange (TCX) chief executive officer Joshua Tien (田建中) said Taiwan’s domestic carbon credit exchange platform would launch on Oct. 2.
Tien told a forum on Wednesday that the TCX had been engaged in discussions with the ministry over the details of domestic carbon credit trading since related regulations came into effect on Aug. 15.
As a carbon fee scheme has yet to begin, the trading platform would mainly be for those planning to build new factories, he said.
Regulations announced in October last year require those setting up new factories of a particular scale and developers of high-rise construction projects to partly offset newly generated emissions by buying carbon credits from voluntary projects or implementing other offsetting measures.
Carbon credits generated from offsetting projects would be able to be sold on the platform first to buyers seeking to meet environment assessment requirements, such as construction and development projects, Tien said.
He said domestic carbon credits could be used to partly offset soon-to-be-collected carbon fees, adding that purchasing carbon credits would be better for corporate image than simply paying the fees.
Chargeable emissions would be calculated from the date the carbon fee rate is officially announced.
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