Taiwan’s cap and trade system, which the Ministry of Environment expects to be launched in four years, would start with a pilot program that involves companies with a good record in decarbonization, Minister of Environment Peng Chi-ming (彭啟明) said on Thursday.
Peng, who had just returned from a trip to Europe, said he expected Taiwan to have its own cap and trade system in four years.
Under a cap and trade system, the sectors involved have a cap on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and those that exceed the limit set by authorities have to trade “emission allowances” with others that fall under the limit.
Photo: CNA
The EU has such a system, called an Emissions Trading System (ETS), while Taiwan has a carbon pricing system that directly applies fees for exceeding set GHG emission levels.
Peng said the EU is planning to implement an extended version of its system by 2027, which would be called the ETS2 and would cover 85 percent of its emissions.
The ETS covers the power production and energy-intensive industries, as well as the aviation and maritime shipping sectors.
The ETS2 would extend to emissions from fuel combustion in buildings, road transportation and smaller industries, Peng said.
When Taiwan’s cap and trade system first takes effect, it would not be as extensive as the ETS2, he said.
Rather, it would follow the Japan model, with about 500 companies involved in the trial stage, and it would start with a pilot program for those that have made good progress in decarbonization, Peng said.
The government plans to assign personnel from the ministry to the EU to participate in discussions on environmental issues there, including the Global Plastic Treaty, management of PFAS chemical and the circular economy, Peng said.
Stationed in Brussels, these ministry personnel would attend working meetings on the carbon border adjustment mechanism, which would impose carbon tariffs from 2026 on products imported from non-EU countries, Peng said.
If all goes according to plan, there is also a chance that ministry personnel would be assigned to other parts of the world to help the ministry build long-term cooperative ties with those areas on environmental efforts, he said.
These include the US’ Clean Competition Act and Japan’s Green Transformation policy, which are geared toward decarbonization, he said.
Foreign tourists who purchase a seven-day Taiwan Pass are to get a second one free of charge as part of a government bid to boost tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. A pair of Taiwan Passes is priced at NT$5,000 (US$156.44), an agency staff member said, adding that the passes can be used separately. The pass can be used in many of Taiwan’s major cities and to travel to several tourist resorts. It expires seven days after it is first used. The pass is a three-in-one package covering the high-speed rail system, mass rapid transport (MRT) services and the Taiwan Tourist Shuttle services,
Drinking a lot of water or milk would not help a person who has ingested terbufos, a toxic chemical that has been identified as the likely cause of three deaths, a health expert said yesterday. An 83-year-old woman surnamed Tseng (曾) and two others died this week after eating millet dumplings with snails that Tseng had made. Tseng died on Tuesday and others ate the leftovers when they went to her home to mourn her death that evening. Twelve people became ill after eating the dumplings following Tseng’s death. Their symptoms included vomiting and convulsions. Six were hospitalized, with two of them
DIVA-READY: The city’s deadline for the repairs is one day before pop star Jody Chiang is to perform at the Taipei Dome for the city’s Double Ten National Day celebrations The Taipei City Government has asked Farglory Group (遠雄集團) to repair serious water leaks in the Taipei Dome before Friday next week, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said yesterday, following complaints that many areas at the stadium were leaking during two baseball games over the weekend. The dome on Saturday and Sunday hosted two games in tribute to CTBC Brothers’ star Chou Szu-chi (周思齊) ahead of his retirement from the CPBL. The games each attracted about 40,000 people, filling the stadium to capacity. However, amid heavy rain, many people reported water leaking on some seats, at the entrance and exit areas, and the
BIG collection: The herbarium holds more than 560,000 specimens, from the Japanese colonial period to the present, including the Wulai azalea, which is now extinct in the wild The largest collection of plant specimens in Taiwan, the Taipei Botanical Garden’s herbarium, is celebrating its 100th anniversary with an exhibition that opened on Friday. The herbarium provides critical historical documents for botanists and is the first of its kind in Taiwan, Taiwan Forestry Research Institute director Tseng Yen-hsueh (曾彥學) said. It is housed in a two-story red brick building, which opened during 1924. At the time, it stored 30,000 plant specimens from almost 6,000 species, including Taiwanese plant samples collected by Tomitaro Makino, the “father of Japanese botany,” Tseng said. The herbarium collection has grown in the century since its