We Call for the Immediate Launch of a “Nationwide Energy-Saving Campaign”
Energy Subsidies for Oil and Electricity Can Only Relieve Pain in the Short Term — A “Nationwide Energy-Saving Campaign” Is the Fundamental Solution
Since the outbreak of the U.S.–Iran war, global energy supplies have been thrown into turmoil, with crude oil and natural gas prices rising by more than 50%. In response, on March 27 the Ministry of Economic Affairs decided to freeze natural gas and electricity prices, while also slowing increases in oil prices, relying on energy subsidies to cope with the crisis.
While this approach may temporarily help stabilize prices, subsidized oil and electricity prices can easily cause businesses and the public to overlook the seriousness of the current energy crisis and fail to recognize their own responsibility to conserve energy. If the government continues to rely on subsidies over the long term, the scale of those subsidies will keep growing and crowd out other public spending. We therefore call on the government to complement price-stabilization measures with an immediately actionable nationwide energy-saving campaign, so that both approaches can be pursued together to help the country through this difficult period.
The International Trend Is Clear: Energy Saving Has Become a Government-Led National Action
Governments across Asia are no longer waiting in the face of energy security and climate risks. Instead, they are proactively launching nationwide energy-saving initiatives and treating energy conservation as a core part of national governance. With governments taking the lead through institutional design and social mobilization, energy saving is becoming a shared public endeavor.
South Korean President Lee Jae-myung has launched a “Nationwide Energy-Saving Campaign,” and the climate ministry has issued 12 guidelines, including requiring public-sector vehicles to stay off the road one day a week based on license plate numbers, encouraging the use of public transportation, walking or cycling for short distances, maintaining appropriate indoor temperatures, turning off unnecessary lighting, and shortening shower times. In addition, to avoid energy waste caused by congestion during commuting hours, public agencies and large companies are encouraged to temporarily adjust working hours. The government has also required the country’s top 50 energy-intensive companies to reduce oil consumption.
Thailand moved even earlier, launching an “Energy Saving Plus Plus” campaign in mid-March. The campaign targets the entire public sector, aiming to improve energy efficiency and reduce energy consumption, while also encouraging factories and commercial buildings to shift electricity use to off-peak hours and adjust air-conditioning temperatures.
These measures clearly show one trend: energy saving is no longer merely a matter of personal choice; it has become a public action that must be led by government.
Energy Saving Is the Most Immediate, Effective, and Lowest-Cost Strategy for the Energy Transition
Although the government already has measures such as the “Key Energy-Saving Strategy” and the “Deep Energy Saving Promotion Plan,” it should not allow subsidies to numb society to the reality of the energy crisis in an era of unstable energy supplies. Taiwan is also at a critical stage in its energy transition. Between the dual goals of ensuring a stable power supply and achieving carbon reduction, the most immediate, effective, and lowest-cost strategy is energy saving.
We therefore strongly urge the government to immediately launch a visible and widely felt “Nationwide Energy-Saving Campaign.” Starting with the public sector, the government should establish clear action targets and demonstration mechanisms to encourage broad public participation, making energy saving a visible, practical, and sustainable social movement.
Industry Accounts for the Largest Share of Electricity Use — Its Energy-Saving Responsibility Cannot Be Avoided
In addition to residential and commercial conservation, around 55% of Taiwan’s electricity is consumed by the industrial sector, making it the largest electricity user overall. Under current conditions of volatile international energy prices and rising geopolitical risks, industry should bear a greater responsibility for reducing electricity use.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs currently requires major energy users (above 800 kW) to achieve a 1% electricity-saving rate and ultra-large users (above 10,000 kW) to achieve a 1.5% rate. These targets are already well below the Energy Administration’s 2025 statistics, which show that large industrial users (including the energy sector) achieved an overall annual electricity-saving rate of approximately 2.03%, and that the figure rises to 2.13% if self-use by the energy sector is excluded. In addition, energy-efficiency technical services provided to 200 energy users identified a total power-saving potential of as much as 185 million kWh. If that potential were fully realized, the overall average electricity-saving rate could rise to approximately 2.56%.
Raising Energy-Saving Targets and Increasing Transparency Are Essential to Driving Industrial Transformation
Today’s overly conservative thresholds are not sufficient to drive deep energy saving in industry. In addition to raising energy-saving targets, the government should strengthen transparency by disclosing the names of companies that fail to meet their targets, thereby creating external oversight pressure and prompting firms to implement genuine conservation measures.
At the same time, companies should proactively strengthen their own power demand management and transition strategies. This includes establishing comprehensive energy management systems, implementing peak-shaving and load-shifting measures, and actively participating in demand response programs in order to reduce stress on the grid during peak hours. They should also accelerate electrification by replacing conventional fuel-based equipment with high-efficiency electric equipment, thereby reducing dependence on fossil fuels at the source.
“Doubling Deep Energy Saving” Is the Key to Preventing Energy Risks from Worsening
Although the United States and Iran are currently under a temporary ceasefire, Qatar’s natural gas infrastructure has already been affected. Even if both sides reach an agreement, Qatar’s gas production capacity will only recover to 80% by late July, and its total gas output this year is expected to decline by about 40%. Global oil and gas prices are therefore likely to remain high.
The government is currently relying mainly on alternative gas supplies and restarting coal-fired power generation as its principal response measures. While these steps may maintain supply stability, they will also lead to sharply higher power generation costs, increased greenhouse gas emissions, and worsened air pollution. Demand-side measures are therefore indispensable.
Although the government launched a four-year deep energy-saving plan in 2024, targeting electricity savings of 20.6 billion kWh, the greatest energy crisis in history calls for broader action. Replacing old household appliances could save up to 1.28 billion kWh. Raising energy-saving targets for major users could deliver another 1 billion kWh. Public outreach and education on energy-saving practices could contribute an additional 110 million kWh. If these efforts were expanded to achieve the effect of “doubling deep energy saving,” and if electricity savings could be increased by 5 billion kWh, Taiwan could reduce demand for Qatari natural gas by 700,000 tonnes and fill more than 12% of the supply-demand gap.
Transforming Transportation Is a Key Strategy for Reducing Oil Dependence
In addition to reducing natural gas demand through electricity savings, corresponding measures must also be taken on the oil side. If private vehicle use could be reduced by 10%, and if the market share of electric cars and scooters could be increased to above 30%, gasoline demand could be cut by 6.5 million kiloliters — equivalent to reducing imported oil demand by 14%. This would significantly lessen the impact of the current energy crisis.
Freezing Prices Is Only a Stopgap; Energy Saving Is the Real Cure
We Call on the Government to Take the Following Actions Immediately:
Immediate Actions the Government Can Take and Lead By Example
- Build an energy-saving culture: Include reminders in meeting notices encouraging attendees to adopt “Cool Biz” attire in order to reduce air-conditioning use.
- Restrict non-essential electricity use: Limit decorative lighting, and require signage lights and promotional screens to be turned off outside business hours.
- Promote “visible energy saving”: Install real-time electricity-use displays in large shopping centers, transportation hubs, and public buildings. Greater transparency can encourage public participation, foster a shared social awareness, and make energy saving a form of collective identity.
- Promote carpooling: Take the lead in implementing carpooling for official vehicles, while encouraging private companies to organize employee carpools or integrated commuting shuttles to reduce transportation energy use.
Mechanisms the Government Can Launch
- Strengthen summer peak-load management: Use flexible working hours, staggered schedules, and adjusted office hours led by public institutions to ease peak electricity demand and achieve meaningful energy savings.
- Promote “shared cooling centers”: Integrate public and private spaces to provide cooling services during hot weather, reducing the need for individual household electricity use while both protecting people from heat risks and achieving peak reduction and energy savings.
- Build household and community energy-saving support systems to make the public active participants: Provide household energy management guidance and community learning platforms to help people understand electricity-use behavior and energy-saving methods, so that every household can become a participant in the energy transition.
- Establish community demonstration sites for energy saving and spread practical experience: Support local governments in setting up community-based demonstration sites that combine energy-saving equipment, behavioral guidance, and local capacity-building, helping practical experience spread more widely.
- Disclose corporate electricity-saving performance: Strengthen transparency, raise industrial energy-saving targets, and publicly disclose performance in order to create external oversight pressure and push companies to take real action.
- Tighten conservation obligations for major energy users: Increase electricity-saving targets for major energy users (above 800 kW) and ultra-large users (above 10,000 kW) to 1.5% and above 2%, respectively.
- Study the feasibility of internal carbon pricing: Governments and schools should consider internal carbon pricing systems modeled on Yale University’s approach, using economic incentives to influence internal electricity-use decisions and improve energy efficiency.
Address the Symptoms, but Also the Root Cause — Strengthen Energy Resilience to Get Through This Crisis Together
Energy saving is not only about reducing oil consumption or cutting electricity bills; it is about improving the energy efficiency and risk-bearing capacity of society as a whole. This is especially true for electricity: when demand is managed more efficiently, peak-load pressure declines, power supply risks are reduced, and the overall energy system becomes more stable and resilient.
Subsidies for oil and electricity are only a short-term buffer. Only by launching a nationwide energy-saving campaign and reducing the fiscal burden created by energy shortfalls can Taiwan truly strengthen its energy resilience and lead society through this global energy crisis.
Co-initiating organizations:
Homemakers United Foundation, The Wilderness Society Taiwan, Green Citizens’ Action Alliance, Taiwan Climate Action Network, Citizen of the Earth, Taiwan, Taiwan Environmental Protection Union
Co-initiators:
Professor Chiung-Ting Chang, Acting Director, Institute of Public Affairs Management, National Sun Yat-sen University;
Dr. Daigee Shaw, Former President, Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research.
