Half of the major cities in Taiwan already committed to net-zero emission by 2050, but the concrete action plan is still lacking. During the first year of TCAN project, Taiwan also experienced the mayors and local congress election at the end of 2023, it provides a key window of opportunity to
enhance local climate action. Therefore, this task published climate and energy governance performance before local election. Then organizing “local congressional caucus for net-zero transition” to facilitate around 90 local lawmakers to commit for climate budget and City Self-Government
Ordinance for the Management of Net Zero Emissions this World Environment Day. In order to provide the supporting information for “local congressional caucus for net-zero transition”, this project also published Guidebook for Local Climate Governance. We summarized the key result of
performance ranking and guideline in the following paragraph.
With the mayoral and local congress elections happening in November of 2022, it is a crucial opportunity to assess the progress and achievements of local climate policies for mitigation and give a comprehensive overview of challenges of local climate governance. Of the 22 local governments, 12 of them have committed to net-zero emission by 2050, but the performances of climate governance vary a lot.
Hence TCAN members publish climate and energy governance performance ranking of local government on October 5th. This report is the extension of Energy Transition Alliance, with is a voluntary cooperation between NGOs. The data collecting and local governments interview process started this Spring. The performance ranking includes four criteria: 1. Citizen participation; 2. Climate target and strategies; 3. Administrative resources; 3. Information governance. The report presented 4 rankings of the performance of local climate governance with level A, B, C and D. Local governments in level A are the most committed to climate action. They have committed to net-zero emission by 2050 and have shown stronger ambitions to develop their transitional pathways. Other than that, there is more democratic decision-making and more collaboration within the level A government administrations.
Local governments in level B have also set a target to reach net zero by 2050, but they have not yet established roadmaps or action plans. Local governments in level C lack a climate target, binding policy framework and stakeholder engagement. Local governments in level D haven’t made any commitment to climate action and there are no effective structures for coordination across different government agencies for climate policies.
The report also reviews the climate legislations of the local governments. Only one of them has passed climate legislation that commits to net zero and provides a legal framework for municipal-level action on climate policy. Four of them have submitted the draft bill for climate policy that pledges to net zero and are still in the legislative process. Six of them have only established legislations that regulate carbon emissions or energy efficiency.
The report presented some climate action projects to encourage local governments to learn from each other’s experiences. One of the example projects is the microgrid project made by the Ping Tung County Government to strengthen climate resilience across rural areas and promote a just transition. Another example is a “Net-Zero Industry Coalition ‘’ established by Tainan City Government to create a platform to share collective expertise and provide practical guidance supporting the goal of net zero. Finally, there is a participatory budgeting project initiated by the Yilan County Government for climate change mitigation in the agriculture sector.
A few suggestions were made in the report to strengthen local climate governance. Firstly, set up clear roles and responsibilities allocated to agencies and departments for climate policy to promote effective structures for coordination across agencies and levels. Secondly, design and deliver an inclusive, equitable and strategic engagement strategy for climate action planning.
Thirdly, strengthen analytical capabilities to head towards the goal of data-driven decision-making. The report launch was a step in the right direction. There was a press conference with 20 cases of news coverage, which has drawn significant attention. Moreover, the magazine “Business
Today” has used the report as the main reference in their Sustainable City Awards 2022.
As for the guidebook of local climate governance, it is based on the research and analysis of local policies through the evaluation process in the last few years, as well as the experiences of interactions and interviews with local government officials.
Through this guidebook, we aims to urge local governments to develop more robust and inclusive net-zero governance strategies and mechanisms at the early stages and lay the groundwork for future policy discussions and multi-stakeholder collaboration.
The guidebook identifies five key challenges faced by Taiwanese local governments in their transition towards net zero, including: insufficient expertise and administrative capacity on net-zero issues, a lack of scientifically based assessment for emission reduction targets, a lack of budget allocation mechanisms and funding, the absence of systematic civil participation mechanisms, and the need for mechanisms to prevent and resolve disputes related to renewable energy projects.
We presents seven recommendations includes: establishing a strong legislative foundation, creating a organization with sufficient authority and cross-agency administrative integration capacity, establishing a comprehensive climate budget system, strengthening self-financing mechanisms and other financial tools, building inclusive and sustainable citizen participation mechanisms, instituting systemic measures to prevent and mitigate conflicts over renewable energy, and promoting citizen engagement and co-sharing in renewable energy projects.
In addition to providing these policy recommendations to the Taiwanese local governments, it will also be shared with local legislators, NGOs and other stakeholders.
Subsequent activities, including workshops and discussions, will be organized to facilitate further public policy communication.