The New Power Party (NPP) caucus yesterday questioned a proposed preferential carbon fee, saying that it might provide loopholes for large enterprises.
The Executive Yuan in April passed the Environmental Protection Administration’s (EPA) proposed amendments to the Greenhouse Gas Reduction and Management Act (溫室氣體減量及管理法) and renamed it the draft “climate change adaptation act.”
As no consensus has been reached on the draft, it awaits further negotiations by legislative caucuses.
Photo: Lo Pei-te, Taipei Times
NPP Legislator Claire Wang (王婉諭) told a news conference yesterday that the responsibilities and division of labor of each government agency should be clearly stated in the act, as cross-agency actions are needed to combat climate change.
Agencies tend to carry out cross-agency projects passively and even evade responsibilities, she said, adding that sometimes no agency is willing to undertake important affairs.
Under the draft, the National Council for Sustainable Development would be in charge of coordinating, distributing and integrating climate actions, she said.
However, the council is operating as a temporary task force, so it has limited ability to coordinate among agencies, she said.
The Executive Yuan should propose concrete measures to carry out an organizational transformation of the council before the draft undergoes cross-caucus negotiations, the caucus said.
NPP Legislator Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智) likened the draft to “a tiger without teeth.”
Lawmakers across parties have agreed to include a carbon reduction goal into the amended act, but the EPA refused to do so, he said.
The proposed draft authorizes the government to enact many important regulations, which is “completely inconsistent with the spirit of legislation” and “shows no respect for the legislature,” he said.
Regulations regarding climate litigation, an important tool for the public to seek relief, are included in the draft amendments proposed by civil groups and Democratic Progressive Party legislators, but not the Executive Yuan, he added.
The rate of carbon fees should be determined by a dedicated review committee, at least two-thirds of which should comprise experts and representatives of civil groups, NPP Chairwoman Chen Jiau-hua (陳椒華) said.
The management board of the Greenhouse Gas Management Fund should have the same composition, she added.
As for a potential corporate loophole, Article 29 in the Executive Yuan’s draft states that those who reach a specified greenhouse gas reduction goal may submit voluntary reduction plans to the central competent authority to apply for preferential rates for carbon fees, she said.
However, competent authorities might not be able to assess each company’s plan and provide preferential rates accordingly, Chen said, calling for the article’s removal from the draft.
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS