The Green Citizens’ Action Alliance and other civic groups yesterday urged the government to show its resolve regarding reducing carbon emissions and propose meaningful and more robust policies to encourage industries to implement measures for achieving net zero by 2050.
Alliance deputy secretary-general Tseng Hung-wen (曾虹文) said only 118 of the nation’s 1,791 listed companies, less than 7 percent, had pledged to achieve net zero on the Financial Supervisory Commission’s platform promoting net zero.
Tseng added that the commission’s request to input information on its platform was not enforceable.
Photo: Chen Chia-yi, Taipei Times
Alliance researcher Chen Chen-yuan (陳震遠) said that the Environmental Protection Administration should order companies to conduct “carbon inspections” and demand that industries with a heavy output of carbon emissions make and announce plans on how they are to manage the production of greenhouse gases.
Chen said that the Financial Supervisory Commission should thoroughly review companies’ stated goals and data to gauge whether they are aligned with the government’s net zero goal.
He said that from the pledges made by companies regarding carbon reduction efforts, the government would be hard-pressed to realize its 2050 net zero goal.
Taiwan Climate Action Network researcher Lin Yi-chun (林怡均) said governments worldwide are demanding greater corporate transparency to see whether actual carbon reduction is taking place instead of companies “greenwashing.”
The government and local companies should be aware of this trend and make preparations to avoid being surprised, such as the adoption of global initiatives like the RE100 or the concept of a carbon tax, she said.
Environmental Rights Foundation researcher Sun Hsin-hsuan (孫興瑄) cited the EU’s discussion about implementing a Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive and said the government should establish appropriate supervisory systems to ensure that Taiwanese companies also exercise due diligence when making plans for climate change.
Climate Change Bureau Preparatory Office Deputy Director Huang Wei-ming (黃偉鳴) said that while there are no plans to demand that industries and companies make known their plans to deal with climate change, a draft act is being mulled to help the government keep tabs on how firms are reducing carbon emissions.
However, that discussion is ongoing as concerns were raised last month that the data required could involve trade secrets.
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