Taiwan should be more open to int'l decarbonization projects: Scholar

Taipei, Dec. 18 (CNA) An expert in carbon trading on Monday said Taiwan should follow Japan's lead by encouraging enterprises to develop international decarbonization projects rather than solely focusing on "reducing our own carbon emissions."

National Taipei University's Institute of Natural Resource Management Professor Lee Chien-ming (李堅明), who just returned from the United Nations' COP28 climate summit in Dubai, made the comments during a talk in Taipei hosted by the Chinese National Association of Industry and Commerce, Taiwan.

Lee criticized the government's current mentality of concentrating on "our own backyard by only caring about cutting our own carbon emissions," referring to Taiwan's reluctance to allow international carbon credits to be used to offset large emitters' statutory obligations.

The Climate Change Response Act requires enterprises that emit more than 25,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent a year to pay carbon fees starting in 2025, based on the quantification made in 2024.

However, Lee said Taiwan's current eschewing of global cooperation on decarbonization was "contrary to what the world is aiming at."

Although the Taiwan Carbon Solution Exchange (TCX) will open trading of international carbon credits this Friday, the Ministry of Environment (MOENV) has said that this first batch of international carbon credits will not be able to offset the carbon fees that some big enterprises are slated to pay in 2025.

Different reasons have been provided. According to different local media reports last week, the TCX said it was because subsidiary regulations on carbon fees have not yet been announced, while Tsai Ling-yi (蔡玲儀), director-general of the ministry's Climate Change Administration, said it was because no precedent of using international carbon credits to offset domestic carbon levy has been set in other countries that are also practicing carbon pricing.

Despite this, Lee suggested that the government encourage private enterprises to have joint projects with entities in other countries and allow the carbon credits earned outside the country to partly meet domestic obligations.

The country's emission reduction targets, or Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), can also be much enhanced if Taiwan is more open to this kind of international cooperation, Lee said.

Taiwan's NDCs, announced by the National Development Council in 2022, were a 24 percent reduction by 2030 compared to the baseline year of 2005, which Lee said could be much improved if Japan's example is followed.

Japan has been operating a "Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM)" with the government's backing and subsidies since 2013 and has been undertaking 223 projects with 27 countries, Lee said.

According to Lee, Japan is following Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, which allows countries to voluntarily cooperate to achieve their emission reduction targets or NDCs.

Lee said Japan "has a mid-term target of 46 percent reduction by 2030 compared to 2013, much of which is probably planned to be contributed by the JCM," adding that Taiwan could have its own "TCM" or Taiwan's joint crediting mechanism as well.