Taiwan is the world's 22nd-largest producer of carbon dioxide, emitting about 1 percent of all GHG emissions worldwide. This is disproportionately high given that its population is just 0.3 percent of the world total, a recent news report pointed out.
The new bill, titled Law for the Reduction of Greenhouse Gases Emissions, delineates the responsibilities of the central government, local governments and government agencies and lists common sources of six major greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride.
If passed into law, the draft would task the Environmental Protection Administration with drawing up a general reduction strategy and coordinating implementation among government agencies. The EPA would be responsible for establishing emission quotas, setting up a gases trading platform, regulating new emission sources and instituting monitoring, accounting and reporting systems for government agencies, state-run firms and local-level governments. It includes sentencing guidelines for companies and other parties found guilty of exceeding their emission quotas.
The government will have to draft a national emission inventory report if the bill becomes law. Officials in charge of energy, industry, transportation, urban planning and agriculture would have to promote measures to reduce GHG emissions by means of developing renewable energy technologies, establishing GHG management systems on vehicles and promoting recycling, among other responsibilities.
No timetable for compliance has been set in the bill, however, due to a lack of consensus among stakeholders. For the same reason, the bill also lacks any actual target for emission reduction. According to an EPA press release, GHG emission reduction timetables and targets are a very sensitive subject. The Cabinet has therefore adopted what it calls a "step-by-step" approach to emission reduction. This way, the impact on local industries will not be so great.
Though they would be admonished not to exceed pollution quotas--to be decided at a later date--the bill allows overpolluting companies to buy pollution vouchers from other companies that exceed their reduction targets.
Premier Su Tseng-chang said Sept. 20 during the weekly Cabinet meeting that the draft bill would provide a legal foundation for government efforts to reduce GHG emissions, an important step in saving the environment. He added that the bill represents the Executive Yuan's answer to an agreement reached at the National Energy Conference in June 2005, and again at the National Sustainable Development Conference of April 2006, as well as at the Conference on Sustaining Taiwan's Economic Development in late July.
The bill was drafted according to the spirit of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, according to a local newspaper report, which led to the Kyoto Protocol that went into effect Feb. 16, 2005. Kyoto set reduction targets of GHG emissions for the world's industrialized countries to mitigate the effects of climate change.
Since Taiwan is not a member of the United Nations, it could not become a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol and therefore has no obligation to implement the environmental treaty. Nevertheless, the premier said, Taiwan is demonstrating its willingness to accept its share of the responsibility for the Earth's environment and contribute to global efforts to curb GHG emissions.
The head of Taiwan's Environmental Protection Administration, Chang Kow-lung, said the heavy impact of climate change on the island country would be inevitable, so promoting the reduction of GHG emissions is an essential task.
"If we don't do it today, we will regret it tomorrow," he was quoted as saying.
Some media outlets have described the bill as a "giant step" in the nation's efforts toward environmental protection, and one certain to have a great impact on the government's economic policies in regard to development projects. Others have pointed out that the bill risks slowing industrial growth and making a commodity of pollution vouchers.
Two of the largest development projects that would be affected if the bill passes in its current form are a petrochemical complex being built by Kuokuang Petrochemical Technology Co., Ltd. and a steel plant under construction by Formosa Plastics Group. Both megaprojects are underway in Yunlin County, and both enjoy support from the central government. In April, local environmental groups demanded that construction be halted on the projects until an emission reduction timetable and hard targets could be set. According to official sources, however, the two projects will go ahead as scheduled.
The GHG emissions bill will be tabled in the Legislative Yuan for debate in the current session. Even if it passes its third reading in the Legislature by the end of the year, it would not go into effect for another year after that.