Taiwan, China planning green cooperation: minister

2009 / 12 / 10

Taipei, Dec. 7 (CNA) Taiwan and China may soon open a new front in their efforts to cement bilateral ties, as talks on cooperation on the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) could be in the works, Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) Minister Stephen Shu-hung Shen said Monday.

Noting that environmental protection officials from Taiwan and China have started planning joint measures to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, Shen said the officials from both sides may meet after the Copenhagen Climate Conference for a forum on environment protection or to discuss CDM collaboration.

"The Copenhagen Climate Conference is one of the most important meetings this century," Shen said.

It is not only reviewing progress achieved under the Kyoto Protocol, its discussions would have important impact on future trends for global industrial development, he noted.

The CDM is an arrangement under the Kyoto Protocol that allows industrialized countries with a greenhouse gas reduction commitment to invest in ventures that reduce emissions in developing countries as an alternative to more expensive emissions cuts in their own countries.

According to news reports from China, as of the end of October, the Chinese government had approved 2,232 CMD projects, 663 of which have been successfully registered with the CDM Executive Board of the United Nations -- the highest number of CDM registered projects for a single country worldwide.

It is envisioned that the 663 projects will help cut greenhouse gas emissions in China by 190 million tons per year, constituting 58 percent of the total emissions reduction projected for registered CDM projects globally, according to a Chinese official.

"Taiwan can borrow from China's experience in CDM development and in turn use the CDM cooperation to create a win-win situation for both sides," Shen said.

However, local environment conservation activists have expressed diverse views on CO2 reduction options.

Pan Han-sheng, a spokesman for the Green Party Taiwan, posited that Taiwan should consider cutting greenhouse gas emissions at the source, rather than from cap-and-trade efforts, which he said address only end-product problems.

"The best and fastest solution is to impose an energy tax and a carbon tax," Pan suggested.

Kao Cheng-yen, an environmentalist and a professor at National Taiwan University, criticized the government's approach of pushing for measures to curb greenhouse gas emissions in Taiwan, on one hand, while turning a blind eye to the expansion of heavy-polluting industries, on the other.

Citing the example of a proposal to build an eighth naphtha cracking plant in Taiwan, Kao said even if all the factories in Taiwan strive to reduce their CO2 emissions, their efforts will be in vain once the proposed Guokuang Petrochemical Co. becomes operational.

Since the Legislative Yuan has already passed an act governing the development of renewable energies, the administration should capitalize on that policy, he suggested.

"The government should learn from Germany and Japan and purchase alternative energy produced by the private sector," Kao said.

(By Liu Kuang-ying and Deborah Kuo) 

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