Three of the nation’s presidential candidates are to take part in a televised climate policy debate next month, the event’s organizers, Greenpeace Taiwan and the International Climate Development Institute (ICDI), said on Thursday.
ICDI director Camyale Chao (趙恭岳) said the debate is to take place on Oct. 21, and that the nominees of Taiwan’s three largest political parties — Vice President William Lai (賴清德) of the Democratic Progressive Party, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) of the Taiwan People’s Party — have agreed to attend.
Greenpeace project manager Lena Chang (張皪心) said the candidates would take questions from representatives of the media, academia and the business world, as well as questions submitted online by members of the public.
Photo: Chen Chia-yi, Taipei Times
Due to time constraints, the candidates might not be able to respond to each other’s answers or engage in back-and-forth debate, she said.
Chang said the two other candidates in the presidential race — Hon Hai Precision Industry Co founder Terry Gou (郭台銘) and former Tainan County commissioner Su Huan-chih (蘇煥智) — might also be invited, depending on how their efforts to collect signatures and qualify for the ballot are going.
Although the candidates have laid out their energy policy proposals — mainly hinging on their support or opposition to nuclear energy — to date, none has published a formal climate or environmental platform.
On Thursday, Greenpeace called on the candidates to commit, and put forward plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent and ensure renewable energy sources account for 40 percent of Taiwan’s energy mix by 2030.
Last year, 82.42 percent of the energy generated in Taiwan came from fossil fuels (mainly coal and liquefied natural gas), while 8.28 percent came from renewable energy sources, 8.24 percent from nuclear power and 1.06 percent from pumped storage hydropower, according to Bureau of Energy data.
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