A western philosopher once referred to “a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat that is not there.” It is a comment on the metaphysical dilemma in which academics have exhausted big efforts on the dialectical wording for the non-existence of being.
On the contrary, Taiwan, as an existing political entity, has passed the progressive Greenhouse Gas Reduction and Management Act (溫室氣體減量及管理法), and outlined its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) — publicly declared actions the nation intends to take under a new global climate change agreement. However, it still cannot officially participate in the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris with 195 other parties.
As for the ranking of carbon dioxide emitting nations, Taiwan was not originally shown on the world map. However, since the 1970s, the nation’s economic transition, industrialization, rise in exports and GDP growth have made Taiwan one of the four Asian Tigers and one of the world’s major industrial factories.
As a result, Taiwan has imported more coal and oil, and carbon dioxide emissions have increased annually by 6 to 8 percent. With the increased pollution, the sky over Taiwan has also grown dusky. Although small, Taiwan is a major emitter in the eyes of the International Energy Agency (IEA). However, in the eyes of the world, the nation is always seen by choice, or not seen at all.
The situation has changed since 2008. Taiwan’s overall emissions have more or less leveled off over the past seven years despite an increase in GDP. The intensity of Taiwan’s carbon dioxide emissions has fallen from 0.023kg per New Taiwan (NT) dollar in 2002 to 0.017kg per NT dollar in 2013 — a decrease of about 25 percent over the past 12 years — mainly as a result of an improvement in energy efficiency, industrial transformation and energy conservation, and carbon emissions reduction efforts. This transition pathway could be a remarkable demonstration for many developing countries.
If Taiwan were a member of the UN Climate Change Conference, it would appeal some points at the meetings:
‧ First, pay attention to the effects of global warming and sea-level rise on island countries in the Pacific, Indian and Caribbean oceans.
‧ Second, treat “historical responsibility” and “future responsibility” of greenhouse gas emissions equally.
‧ Third, establish a fair, third-party verification platform to audit countries’ greenhouse gas emissions, use it to support domestic allocation of emission allowances and establish a credible basis for a carbon market;
‧ Fourth, improve functions of international collaboration platforms on technology, finance, and law, in order to complete a transition from a “carbon economy” to a “green economy.”
Since 1992, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has embodied the “common, but differentiated responsibilities” as the UN’s emissions mitigation commitment.
However, this concept has not resulted in a satisfied realization. Greenhouse gas emissions are still running out of control.
It is our proposal that in the upcoming “Paris Agreement,” an “inclusive” component needs be added to the “common, but differentiated responsibilities;” rephrasing the concept as “common, but differentiated, and inclusive responsibilities.”
The UN should include, with the utmost generosity, all political entities that are willing and/or capable of contributing to carbon emissions reduction under the UNFCCC. In turn, our nation, people and cities would be treated more equally in dedicating their effort and financial capacity for human sustainability.
Wei Kuo-yen is the Environmental Protection Administration minister.
Monday was the 37th anniversary of former president Chiang Ching-kuo’s (蔣經國) death. Chiang — a son of former president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), who had implemented party-state rule and martial law in Taiwan — has a complicated legacy. Whether one looks at his time in power in a positive or negative light depends very much on who they are, and what their relationship with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is. Although toward the end of his life Chiang Ching-kuo lifted martial law and steered Taiwan onto the path of democratization, these changes were forced upon him by internal and external pressures,
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁) has caused havoc with his attempts to overturn the democratic and constitutional order in the legislature. If we look at this devolution from the context of a transition to democracy from authoritarianism in a culturally Chinese sense — that of zhonghua (中華) — then we are playing witness to a servile spirit from a millennia-old form of totalitarianism that is intent on damaging the nation’s hard-won democracy. This servile spirit is ingrained in Chinese culture. About a century ago, Chinese satirist and author Lu Xun (魯迅) saw through the servile nature of
In their New York Times bestseller How Democracies Die, Harvard political scientists Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt said that democracies today “may die at the hands not of generals but of elected leaders. Many government efforts to subvert democracy are ‘legal,’ in the sense that they are approved by the legislature or accepted by the courts. They may even be portrayed as efforts to improve democracy — making the judiciary more efficient, combating corruption, or cleaning up the electoral process.” Moreover, the two authors observe that those who denounce such legal threats to democracy are often “dismissed as exaggerating or
The National Development Council (NDC) on Wednesday last week launched a six-month “digital nomad visitor visa” program, the Central News Agency (CNA) reported on Monday. The new visa is for foreign nationals from Taiwan’s list of visa-exempt countries who meet financial eligibility criteria and provide proof of work contracts, but it is not clear how it differs from other visitor visas for nationals of those countries, CNA wrote. The NDC last year said that it hoped to attract 100,000 “digital nomads,” according to the report. Interest in working remotely from abroad has significantly increased in recent years following improvements in
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