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Event Sidenote: TCAN Launches Just Transition Policy Outlook Report
On 12 September, TCAN launched our Just Transition Outlook in Taiwan: Innovating Governance and Fostering a Support System policy report. As the first policy report focusing on just transition in Taiwan, we examined the current state of just transition policy and governance planning and proposed a total of 11 policy recommendations in the areas of “governance innovation”, “industrial transformation”, and “support system”. Our researcher, Yang Pei-wei, introduced the 11 recommendations and the local contexts and international best practices from which we drew them. Overall, while the Taiwanese government has made significant progress in building the governance and legislative frameworks over the past few years, much remains to be done in strengthening stakeholder engagement, identifying transition impact hotspots, and incorporating administrative resources in social protection, public health, green finance, carbon pricing, etc. to better align capital and resources with a healthy, decarbonised, and empowering future. For instance, a recent study from […]
Event Sidenote: TCAN’s Anti-Greenwashing Forum
On 27 August, TCAN and the Green Citizens’ Action Alliance (GCAA) co-hosted the 2024 Anti-greenwashing Forum. Focusing on the two major themes of “ESG-washing” and “Net-zero washing”, the forum gathered stakeholders from Taiwan’s regulatory regime, sustainability awarding bodies, and corporate sustainability consulting agencies to explore the roles each can respectively play in co-constructing an anti-greenwashing ecosystem. As the need to transition to a net-zero economy becomes ever more pressing, companies have increasingly adopted the languages of ESG, SDGs, and CSR. To help consumers see through potentially deceptive green marketing tactics and to prevent the “bad money” of companies with poor records of environmental violations from driving out the good, GCAA has built a range of digital tools such as the Thaubing Footprint website, the Scan-it-Before-Buying-it app, and the ESG Detector over the past eight years. Earlier this year, TCAN and GCAA also published the 2024 Corporate Sustainability Reporting Tracker report, […]
Just Transition Outlook in Taiwan: Innovating Governance and Fostering a Support System
The past three years have seen a proliferation of “just transition” (JT) in Taiwan’s climate policy-making circles. The government’s 12 Key Strategies in Transformation toward Net-Zero Emissions, announced in December 2022, and the updated Climate Change Response Act Parliament passed in January 2023 both featured JT-specific provisions and action plans. Such is the result of years of civil society advocacy and engagement, making Taiwan one of the leading countries worldwide that have defined JT as a guiding principle in their framework laws on climate change. With the policy and legislative frameworks for JT more or less in place, the task now lies in ensuring their robust implementation: addressing and mitigating any negative impacts the transition to a net-zero society may bring, directing funding and resources to workers and communities whose livelihoods the transition hits, and making sure that the technologies and economic activities we transition into do not exacerbate existing […]
（CNA）Environmental groups protest industry-friendly carbon fee regulations
CNA photo July 12, 2024 Taipei, July 12 (CNA) Environmental groups staged a protest at a public meeting hosted by the Ministry of Environment on Friday, saying that the government’s proposed carbon fee mechanisms excessively favor polluters at the expense of the environment. Along with an as-yet-undecided carbon fee rate, the regulations will determine how much enterprises will be required to pay for their carbon emissions. The regulations are scheduled to be announced at the end of August after stakeholder opinions are considered and another public hearing has been held, according to the ministry. At Friday’s meeting, activists from the Environmental Rights Foundation, Taiwan Climate Action Network, Green Citizens’ Action Alliance and Citizen of the Earth expressed their opposition to the current draft regulations and some held a banner with the slogan “Low carbon fees favor enterprises, the people instead pay the climate costs!” The campaigners voiced their opposition to […]
TCAN’s Ten Carbon fee Policy Recommendations
Taiwan’s Ministry of Environment (MOENV) released its drafts for three carbon fee sub-laws in April and is expected to hold deliberation meetings in July. While the carbon fee rate deliberation committee will decide the price rate at a later date, the contents of these draft sub-laws have already affected the substantive carbon price companies will be paying, thereby limiting the role of the carbon fee as a price signal that drives companies to decarbonise. Taiwan Climate Action Network (TCAN) has thus published this policy brief to provide MOENV with suggestions on amending the three carbon fee sub-laws. We urge MOENV, relevant authorities, the industrial sector, and all stakeholders to jointly promote an effective carbon pricing policy to accelerate the low-carbon transformation of the high-emission industries, especially in manufacturing. Our ten policy recommendations cover the overall principles of the carbon fee policy, the carbon fee rate, and relevant supporting measures: Overall […]
2024 China Steel Climate Performance Assessment
China Steel Corporation (CSC), the largest integrated steel maker and the second largest corporate source of emissions in Taiwan, is set to hold its shareholder meeting on 19 June 2024. CSC and its subsidiary Dragon Steel Co. currently emit around 28.64 million tons of CO2 per year, making up 22.7% of Taiwan’s total industrial sector emissions. If CSC fails to decarbonise effectively, it will face risks of increased operational costs from the implementation of the carbon levy and, thus, a decrease in shareholders’ return on equity, all while undermining Taiwan’s efforts to meet the 2050 net-zero emissions target. At the moment, China Steel exports around 45%, and Dragon Steel 30%, of its products to international markets, including Southeast Asia, Europe, Japan, and elsewhere. As the Group faces competitors from all around the globe, any lags in its net-zero transition represent future risks of cost increases due to carbon tariffs, loss […]
（CNA）Groups evaluate sustainability awards, sound alarm over ‘greenwashing’
Taipei, May 2 (CNA) Taiwan’s sustainability awards should have stricter criteria to avoid suspicions of “greenwashing,” environmental groups said on Thursday, as they warned some industries, including semiconductors, could be a drag on Taiwan’s effort to hit its carbon emissions reduction target. Sustainability awards should have discernable criteria to boost their credibility and avoid suspicion of greenwashing, Green Citizens’ Action Alliance Deputy Secretary-General Tseng Hung-wen (曾虹文) said during a press conference promoting a report, titled “2024 Corporate Sustainability Reporting Tracker,” published by the groups in Taipei. For example, she said, 12 of the 64 recipients of the Taiwan Corporate Sustainability Award (TCSA) in 2023 had been previously fined for pollution offences, including state-owned CPC Corporation, which was also found guilty of not disclosing all the facts. Tseng said being law-abiding should be a basic requirement to be considered for such awards, rather than simply one of the evaluation criteria. The […]
（Reuters） How Taiwan’s green power deficit threatens tech industry’s bid for net zero
By Ben Payton Summary Taiwan makes 60% of world’s chips but process uses a lot of energy; TSMC consumed 6.4% of Taiwan’s power in 2021 Digital economy’s energy demands rising; IEA predicts data centers will use 4% of global electricity by 2026 Companies such as Microsoft pushing for low-carbon chip production as supply chain emissions rise Semiconductor firms’ net zero targets beset by geographical limitations and regulatory challenges Nuclear power an option being pushed in Taiwan and in companies like Microsoft and Amazon June 4 – Outside of Taiwan, it is unlikely that many people have heard of the Hsinchu Science Park. But this sprawling campus in the north-west of the island is the home of several companies that have remained largely obscure, at least until recently, yet perform critical roles in the global economy. It is at Hsinchu, and other science parks dotted around Taiwan, that the most advanced semiconductors […]
（Taiwan Insight） Taiwan’s 2024 Presidential Candidates: How Do They Fare On The Climate?
When it comes to the climate, all three candidates in Taiwan’s upcoming presidential election have emphasised the importance of taking action and committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. The main driver behind this mainstreaming of climate policy is the fact that supply chain requirements have made the country’s export competitiveness highly connected to climate performance. Therefore, we must scrutinise the comprehensiveness of each candidate’s policy proposals, rather than solely relying on whether they are climate denialists, to distinguish their positions. Taiwan Climate Action Network (TCAN), a collaborative advocacy platform organised by five NGOs, has thus produced a climate commitment tracker to compare their positions on seven key climate-related policies: (1) 2030 emissions reduction target, (2) carbon pricing strategies, (3) 2030 power mix, (4) renewable energy development plan, (5) industrial decarbonisation, (6) public participation, and (7) just transition. In this article, we will focus specifically on their 2030 pledges, carbon pricing strategies, and just […]
Press Release: Only 7% of Listed Companies Have Committed to 2050 net-zero Emissions, TCAN Warns Taiwan Will Miss Its Climate Targets.
This press release first appeared in the Green Citizens’ Action Alliance on 17/08/2023, and the key points are translated into English and republished here. · Only 7% (128) of Taiwanese listed companies have committed to net-zero by 2050, which slightly increased from 3% last year. · Although 18% (334) of listed companies have interim targets for GHG reduction, they do not make pledges to get to net-zero emission. · 75% (1300+) of listed companies have not set GHG reduction targets nor mentioned any future plan to reduce GHG emissions. · In Taiwan, there are 293 hard-to-abate companies with annual emissions more than 25 kilotons of CO2e, [1] but merely 8% (24) of them have committed to reach net-zero target by mid-century. The Taiwanese government has already committed to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 since 2021. Earlier this year, the amendment of “Climate Change Response Act” was finished; relevant policies and “12 […]