The consumer price index (CPI) could play a part in how the government levies carbon taxes, Minister of Environment Shieu Fuh-sheng (薛富盛) said on Friday.
Shieu made the remarks in an interview with the Liberty Times (sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) regarding the industrial sector’s concern over how the nation’s carbon tax would be levied.
The possibility of including the CPI is so to perhaps prevent “greenflation” and affecting the private sector, he said, adding, however, that the final decision on how the tax is levied would be decided by the ministry’s Carbon Tax Rate Evaluation Committee.
Photo: Chen Chia-yi, Taipei Times
Implementing a carbon tax in 2025 would ensure that Taiwan’s industrial sector keeps pace with the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), he said.
The CBAM, currently in a transitional phase, is a tariff on carbon-intensive products such as cement, iron and steel, aluminum, fertilizer, electricity and hydrogen, which must report on the volume of their imports and the greenhouse gas emissions embedded during their production, without paying any financial adjustment at that stage, he said.
Starting in January next year, Taiwan will begin recording GHG emissions during production processes and use the data to tax the top 500 GHG-emitting companies in the nation starting in 2025, he said.
The ministry would review the tax rate biennially, with tax rates envisioned to rise gradually with every review, he said.
Shieu said the ministry would not base carbon tax rates on a single index and would reference how other nations are implementing their carbon tax rates while considering the composition of Taiwan’s industrial sector.
“We need to set the right amount, as too little would fail the original goal for levying the tax — to decrease total GHG emissions — and too much would impact industrial development,” he said.
He added that companies targeted for carbon taxing would be eligible for preferential rates if they propose autonomous plans to reduce their carbon emissions.
Regarding an environmental assessment for Keelung’s fourth liquefied natural gas terminal, he said the ministry would uphold the right of all participants of the assessment committee to make their voices heard.
However, this assurance is predicated on participants following procedural regulations and not boycotting or disrupting the committee because committee members had different opinions than they do, he said.
He added that not all matters must be discussed at the assessment review committee, and urged agencies to assess their respective fields of expertise first.
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