Climate: Proposals, visions on international cooperation

Taiwan proposes two international cooperation schemes on combating and mitigating climate change.

Climate change caused by human activity-induced global warming is one of the toughest challenges the world is facing. Through more than two decades of international cooperation, Taiwan has been successfully introducing advanced policies and technologies into its environmental protection infrastructure.

As a result, Taiwan’s environment has significantly improved, the public’s environmental awareness is heightened, and in 2008 carbon dioxide emissions have decreased for the first time. In 2008, Taiwan’s total carbon dioxide emission from energy sectors was less than 257 million metric tons, which marked a 4.4-percent decrease compared to the previous year, while the per capita emission dropped 4.8 percent to 11.2 metric tons.

Taiwan’s environmental protection experience is now available to be shared with other nations. Taiwan intends to work with the international community to combat climate change through bilateral and multilateral cooperation to safeguard both environmental and human health at the national, regional and global levels. The Taiwan Environmental Protection Administration (Taiwan EPA) therefore proposes two international cooperation schemes on climate change mitigation. They are the Overseas Carbon Reduction Cooperation Program and Taiwan’s Initiative: International Cooperation on Efficient Utilization of Global Fossil Fuels and Biomass Energy.

ROC’s Overseas Carbon Reduction Cooperation Program

Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou considers climate change mitigation a top priority of his administration. In 2008, the Taiwan government announced the voluntary carbon dioxide reduction targets: for the period between 2016 and 2020, return to 2008 emission levels; and by 2050, return to 50 percent of 2000 levels. Keeping Taiwan’s unique political situation in mind, the Taiwan EPA is actively seeking cooperation with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Annex I nations to help Taiwan’s emitting entities meet their reduction requirements and assist developing nations cut their carbon emissions with clean development.

The Taiwan EPA will facilitate Taiwan’s emission entities establish corporations in Annex I nations and through these overseas corporations’ investment on clean development projects in developing nations that cut carbon emissions under the UNFCCC guidelines. The carbon credits acquired will then be used to offset emissions in Taiwan. Via cooperation with Annex I and developing nations, Taiwan expects to reach its reduction targets and in the meantime help reduce global emission.

Taiwan initiative on efficient use of fossil and biomass energy

To cut the global carbon emission efficiently, Taiwan proposes a global initiative so that the most efficient way of utilizing global fossil and biomass energy can be realized in 40 years through international cooperation. Considering that pure electric vehicles possess the highest energy efficiency at least four times that of conventional vehicles, and using low-temperature torrefaction to convert bio-fuel to eco-coal for cogeneration is the most efficient way of harnessing biomass energy, Taiwan would like to present a vision regarding international cooperation on efficient utilization of global fossil fuel and biomass energy for electricity generation and heat supply. The initiative involves the following: Power plants should be located in the most heat demanding temperate and frigid zones, while the tropical and subtropical zones are supplied by transmitted electricity. Such a design can produce the highest energy efficiency globally.

Future fossil fuels and eco-coal produced in the tropical and subtropical zones are transported to the temperate and frigid zones for cogeneration to provide the world with electricity including powering electric vehicles. Through this proposed global cooperation, the most efficient way of energy utilization can be reached.

Future prospects

In the future, Taiwan’s international cooperation will focus on continuously introducing advanced environmental management and technologies to improve local environmental quality, sharing Taiwan’s experience to assist other nations to solve environmental problems, participating in international organizations and environmental guideline-making conferences to follow the international trends to protect the Earth’s environment, and promoting Overseas Carbon Reduction Cooperation Project and Taiwan’s Initiative: International Cooperation on Efficient Utilization of Global Fossil and Biomass Energy to mitigate climate change. Taiwan expects that local, regional and global environmental protection tasks will be accelerated through bilateral and multilateral cooperation to safeguard environmental quality, human health and sustainable development. –STEPHEN SHU-HUNG SHEN MINISTER ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION ADMINISTRATION REPUBLIC OF CHINA (TAIWAN)