Taiwan's CSC calls for government to help with EU emissions policy response

Taipei, Nov. 15 (CNA) China Steel Corp. (CSC), the country's main iron and steel corporation, shared its carbon reduction efforts on Wednesday, while calling on the government to ensure Taiwanese steel firms have a level playing field with those of other countries in terms of the imposition of a carbon levy.

At a forum hosted by the Taiwan Net Zero Emissions Association (TNZEA) on Wednesday, Aleksandra Kozlowska, head of the Trade Section of the European Economic and Trade Office (EETO) and Tsai Lin-yi (蔡玲儀), director-general of the Climate Change Administration, were invited to introduce the CBAM (Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism) and measures the Taiwanese authorities have taken in response to the policy.

CBAM will initially apply to six carbon-intensive industries: cement, iron and steel, aluminum, fertilizers, electricity, and hydrogen. According to the administration, a total of 179 items exported from Taiwan will be impacted.

Kozlowska underlined that CBAM is not a trade protection measure but a climate-oriented policy, as the revenues it generates will be "redistributed to help those countries that need them the most in order to mitigate the effects of climate change."

Confirming that carbon fees to be collected by the Taiwanese government will constitute a rebate reducing the required levy at the European Union's border (starting in 2026), the EU official stressed that the tariff seeks to galvanize corporations into taking climate change seriously and adopting measures to boost their sustainability.

She praised Taiwan's CSC as an example, after the company announced the production of its first carbon-neutral batch of steel wire last week.

Tsai also emphasized that while carbon credits will be available on Taiwan's carbon exchange in the future, the aim of levying a carbon fee in the country, expected to be implemented starting in 2024-2025, is to incentivize big emitters to make an effort to decarbonize.

A total of 512 companies that emit more than 25,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide a year will be required to pay carbon fees starting in 2025, based on their emissions registered and verified in 2024.

As a company that will be greatly affected by CBAM, CSC was also invited to the forum to discuss the impact and share some of the measures it has taken.

Wu Yi-min (吳一民), CSC's environmental protection section chief, discussed the company's efforts at decarbonization both in its own production process and by forming alliances with clients, with aid from the government, to meet the CBAM challenge.

However, CSC is involved in all the steel making production processes, having its own oxygen plants and lime plants, which is not common for European steel corporations, Wu added.

"Counting in [the carbon emissions of] these extra processes would place us at a great disadvantage," he said, noting that they have asked EU representatives on different occasions about the issue but "the responses and answers each time were a little bit different."

In a roundtable talk with Tsai and other speakers, Wu also called on the government "not to levy a fee that would place us at a disadvantage relative to our competitors."

Wu's call echoed one made by the Taiwan Steel and Iron Industries Association to the government during its 60th anniversary on Tuesday.

In addition to recommending the government accelerate the training of carbon management talent, require public construction projects to use a fixed ratio of green steel products and provide subsidies and incentives, the association also cited the experience of Japan and South Korea.

In those countries the governments have made ambitious investments in accelerating industry decarbonization and made advances in technology upgrades to retain their competitiveness.

Wednesday's forum was part of the four-day sixth Global Corporate Sustainability Forum held from Tuesday to Friday.

TNZEA is a non-profit organization established by the Taiwan Institute for Sustainable Energy (TAISE) and 26 domestic enterprises and institutions including CSC, TSMC, Taiwan Cement Corp., Chunghwa Telecom, and Hon Hai Precision Industry.