The National Climate Change Strategy Committee is to convene its first meeting early next month after the initial plan to hold the inaugural meeting yesterday was postponed due to Typhoon Gaemi, sources said.
The committee was one of three established one month after President William Lai (賴清德) took office on May 20, along with the Whole-of-Society Defense Resilience Committee and the Healthy Taiwan Promotion Committee.
The committees are to serve as advisory bodies and consultative roles to assist government policymaking, as a means for Lai to have dialogue with the public and to enable participation by all society sectors, said a top aide who asked not to be named.
Photo: CNA
Lai is the convener of the three committees, while Deputy Premier Cheng Li-chun (鄭麗君), Pegatron Group chairman Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢) and Academia Sinica President James Liao (廖俊智) are the deputy conveners of the climate change committee.
Minister of Environment Peng Chi-ming (彭啟明), a meteorologist by profession, serves as the climate change committee’s executive secretary. Nobel laureate and former Academia Sinica president Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲) and former minister of foreign affairs Eugene Chien (簡又新), founder and chairman of the Taiwan Institute for Sustainable Energy, are consultants.
Eighteen of 24 committee members are from non-governmental areas, including academics, industries and civic society groups, while the other six are Ministry representatives.
“We have committee members who are executives of semiconductor manufacturers and the artificial intelligence (AI) sector, as these are the businesses with the highest demands for electricity,” the aide said on Wednesday. “The committee also has representatives from Taiwan’s traditional industries, along with advocates from environmental groups and academics who are experts in energy research, sustainable development, medical fields and other science disciplines.”
Members have their own stance on climate change and sustainable energy issues, so the committee has a diversity of viewpoints for deliberation, and would be able to present recommendations based on science and factual information, consolidate agreement among the majority of society, and expedite decisionmaking and implementation of government policies, they added.
Terry Tsao (曹世綸), head of SEMI Taiwan, a semiconductor manufacturers’ association, is the committee’s industry representative, along with panel maker AU Optronics Corp chairman Paul Peng (彭?浪), Taiwan Power Co chairman Tseng Wen-sheng (曾文生), Manufacturers United General Association of Industrial Park head Boss Lai (賴博司), Cathay Financial Holdings investment head Sophia Cheng (程淑芬) and Taiwan Artificial Intelligence Association chief executive director Lydia Lin (林筱玫).
Members representing civic society groups include Taiwan Environmental Protection Union founder Shih Shin-min (施信民), Citizen of the Earth, Taiwan director Lee Ken-cheng (李根政), Taiwan Environment & Planning Association director Chao Chia-wei (趙家緯), former Taiwan Youth Climate Coalition director Huang Pin-han (黃品涵), Taiwan Green Energy for Charity Association founder Chen Hui-ping (陳惠萍) and Taiwan Citizen Participation Association director Ho Tsung-hsun (何宗勳).
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