A draft bill for carbon storage management would be announced next month at the earliest, aiming to store 6 million tonnes of carbon by 2035, the Ministry of Environment said.
The ministry on Wednesday held a Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) International Conference, inviting Japanese and local experts to exchange research and experience in the development of national CCS strategies.
CCS is a critical technique for Taiwan to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, Deputy Minister of Environment Hsieh Yein-rui (謝燕儒) said.
Photo: Chen Chia-yi, Taipei Times
In line with the carbon reduction goal of 38 percent — plus or minus 2 percent — announced by President William Lai (賴清德) this year, the ministry aims to remove 6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide via CCS by 2035, he said.
“As Japan is in an earthquake belt like Taiwan, its legal infrastructure, technological development and public communication are exemplary for us,” Hsieh said.
The number of developing CCS projects across the world rose by 60 percent to 628 last year, of which 50 facilities were in operation, 44 were under construction and 534 were being planned, he said, citing data from the Global CCS Institute.
Climate Change Administration Director-General Tsai Ling-yi (蔡玲儀) said that the bill on carbon storage management is expected to be announced next month.
Given capturing, delivering and storing carbon dioxide is expensive, innovating technologies to reduce its costs has finally caught international attention, she said, adding that interagency cooperation is indispensable to developing a CCS industrial chain.
Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association Taipei Office Deputy Representative Gen Kawai said that Japan unveiled its long-term CCS roadmap on March 2023, which outlined its goal of reaching an annual carbon storage capacity of 6 million to 12 million tonnes by 2030.
“The carbon storage potential of Japan’s coastal areas is estimated to be 150 billion to 240 billion tonnes,” he said.
To accelerate the development of CCS business models, the Japanese government promulgated the CCS Business Act in May last year, which stipulated a licensing system for carbon storage businesses and a notification system for carbon dioxide pipeline transportation businesses, Kawai said.
Japan also selected nine advanced CCS projects that include carbon capture, delivery and storage to create a CCS value chain, he said.
For example, the Tomakomai Area CCS project in Hokkaido reached a carbon storage of 300,000 tonnes in 2019, Kawai said.
Taiwan and Japan are surrounded by water, and their geographical similarities are expected to provide more opportunities for exchange and cooperation between the two sides in CCS development, he said, adding that the association would continue to offer support.
National Central University Carbon Storage and Geothermal Research Center director Lin Tien-shun (林殿順) said that the carbon storage potential of western Taiwan is estimated to be more than 40 billion tonnes.
Pilot test sites have been set up in areas with higher potential, including Taichung’s Tiezhenshan (鐵砧山) and Yunlin County’s Mailiao Township (麥寮), he said.
University of Tokyo engineering professor Takeshi Tsuji said that monitoring and management of carbon storage sites is important to ensure safety.
The University of Tokyo and National Taiwan University have been collaborating on developing a portable active seismic source device that could be used in monitoring storage sites, he said, adding that they were low-cost and environmentally friendly.
The small, handheld device could be used to continuously monitor the reservoirs at a depth of about 1km by generating seismic signals, Tsuji said.
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
Yangmingshan National Park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) nature area has gone viral after a park livestream camera observed a couple in the throes of intimate congress, which was broadcast live on YouTube, drawing large late-night crowds and sparking a backlash over noise, bright lights and disruption to wildlife habitat. The area’s livestream footage appeared to show a couple engaging in sexual activity on a picnic table in the park on Friday last week, with the uncensored footage streamed publicly online. The footage quickly spread across social media, prompting a tide of visitors to travel to the site to “check in” and recreate the
A former soldier and an active-duty army officer were yesterday indicted for allegedly selling classified military training materials to a Chinese intelligence operative for a total of NT$79,440. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office indicted Chen Tai-yin (陳泰尹) and Lee Chun-ta (李俊達) for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法) and the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例). Chen left the military in September 2013 after serving alongside then-staff sergeant Lee, now an army lieutenant, at the 21st Artillery Command of the army’s Sixth Corps from 2011 to 2013, according to the indictment. Chen met a Chinese intelligence operative identified as “Wang” (王) through a friend in November
Minister of Digital Affairs Lin Yi-ching (林宜敬) yesterday cited regulatory issues and national security concerns as an expert said that Taiwan is among the few Asian regions without Starlink. Lin made the remarks on Facebook after funP Innovation Group chief executive officer Nathan Chiu (邱繼弘) on Friday said Taiwan and four other countries in Asia — China, North Korea, Afghanistan and Syria — have no access to Starlink. Starlink has become available in 166 countries worldwide, including Ukraine, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, in the six years since it became commercial, he said. While China and North Korea block Starlink, Syria is not
RSS