Taiwan: White paper urges drastic plans on greenhouse gas
2019.06.10
Academia Sinica yesterday released a white paper urging authorities to adopt more drastic plans to curb greenhouse gas emissions and draft climate change legislation.
The drafting of the white paper, “Taiwan Deep Decarbonization Policy,” started in 2015 and took more than three years to finish, as it involves many fields, including energy-related techniques, economic development and social communication, said Wang Pao-kuan (王寶貫), director of Academia Sinica’s Research Center for Environmental Changes and lead author of the report.
Taiwan’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2015 reached 284.643 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, up from 137.854 million tonnes in 1990, the paper says.
In 2015, carbon dioxide made up about 95.21 percent of the nation’s total greenhouse gas emissions, followed by methane (1.91 percent), nitrous oxide (1.58 percent) and hydrofluorocarbons (1.3 percent), it says.
In the Germanwatch Climate Change Performance Index 2019, Taiwan placed 56th, dropping two places from last year’s report and ranking among the world’s worst performers.
With its reliance on export trade, Taiwan might face “border carbon adjustments” imposed by foreign countries if it does not take more drastic action to curb emissions, Academia Sinica said.
It said that 89.82 percent of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2015 were discharged by the energy sector, 7.79 percent by the industrial sector, 0.95 percent by the agricultural sector and 1.44 percent by the waste sector.
Academia Sinica yesterday released a white paper urging authorities to adopt more drastic plans to curb greenhouse gas emissions and draft climate change legislation.
The drafting of the white paper, “Taiwan Deep Decarbonization Policy,” started in 2015 and took more than three years to finish, as it involves many fields, including energy-related techniques, economic development and social communication, said Wang Pao-kuan (王寶貫), director of Academia Sinica’s Research Center for Environmental Changes and lead author of the report.
Taiwan’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2015 reached 284.643 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, up from 137.854 million tonnes in 1990, the paper says.
In 2015, carbon dioxide made up about 95.21 percent of the nation’s total greenhouse gas emissions, followed by methane (1.91 percent), nitrous oxide (1.58 percent) and hydrofluorocarbons (1.3 percent), it says.
In the Germanwatch Climate Change Performance Index 2019, Taiwan placed 56th, dropping two places from last year’s report and ranking among the world’s worst performers.
With its reliance on export trade, Taiwan might face “border carbon adjustments” imposed by foreign countries if it does not take more drastic action to curb emissions, Academia Sinica said.
It said that 89.82 percent of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2015 were discharged by the energy sector, 7.79 percent by the industrial sector, 0.95 percent by the agricultural sector and 1.44 percent by the waste sector.
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