Innovation would be key for Taiwan’s race to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, officials and business leaders said at the second edition of the Taiwan Climate Action Expo, which opened in Taipei yesterday.
The event’s organizers include the International Climate Development Institute (ICDI), the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), the Biodiversity Research Center of National Taiwan University and Cathay Financial Holding Co.
The ICDI’s main functions are to train and educate people capable of assisting with the transition to carbon neutrality in a global context, and encourage Taiwan’s dialogue with the international community, ICDI director Chiou Chyi-rong (邱祈榮) said.
Photo: Wu Po-hsuan, Taipei Times
Additionally, the group facilitates collaborative projects by the government, academia and non-governmental organizations, Chiou said.
Climate change is the No. 1 risk to enterprises and Taiwan must not fall behind the rest of the world in enacting mechanisms to protect businesses, markets and finances from the impact of climate warming, Cathay Financial Holding president Lee Chang-ken (李長庚) said.
The UN’s COP26 climate summit last year made clear that climate change is a severe challenge with worrying ramifications for future generations, Environmental Protection Administration Deputy Minister Shen Chih-hsiu (沈志修) said.
The government next year plans to amend the climate change bill being deliberated by the legislature that would facilitate the country’s net zero transformation, Shen said.
The extreme climate change crisis must be met by strong governmental action, said Alan Lin (林子倫), deputy executive director of the Executive Yuan’s Office of Energy and Carbon Reduction.
Since 2016, Taiwan has added 12 gigawatts of renewable generation capacity to the country’s electricity grid and innovative concepts would be required for the net zero push, Lin said.
The administration of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has shown that passing the climate change bill is an agenda of great importance that should be pushed through the legislative process, Deputy Legislative Speaker Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) said in a pre-recorded message.
Climate change must not be allowed to reach the inflection point that leads to systematic collapse, said Hung Sun-han (洪申翰), chairman of the Legislative Yuan’s Sustainable Development Committee.
The nation has to mobilize assets from every domain to fight climate change, including making use of international collaboration, Hung said.
The expo showcases several concepts, including a proposed E-point system that was honored in the Ministry of Education’s Climate Change Education innovation competition this year.
Inspired by a German idea, E-point is a platform that enables people to trade in packaging material at convenience stores as part of a loyalty program, said project codesigner Wu Ming-yang (巫明洋), a student of business management at Fu Jen Catholic University.
The expo — which is to end tomorrow — features ICDI and AIT’s youth engagement program for climate issues and conferences on climate action for officials, entrepreneurs and academics.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by