Gov't committee recommends carbon fee in NT$300-500/tCO2 range

Taipei, Sept. 9 (CNA) A review committee established by Taiwan's government on Monday recommended setting a basic carbon fee rate in the range of NT$300 to NT$500 (US$9.34-US$15.58) per metric ton of carbon emissions.

At its next meeting, the committee is expected to decide on an exact figure within the NT$300-NT$500 range, which would then be reviewed every two years, Huang Wei-ming (黃偉鳴), deputy director-general of the Climate Change Administration under the Ministry of the Environment, said in a statement to the media.

The committee reached the long-delayed recommendation following four hours of talks in the meeting, its fifth since March of this year.

The committee is planning to hold a sixth and final meeting in late September or early October, which will cover guidelines for preferential carbon fee rates and finalize its recommendation for a basic carbon fee rate, according to Huang.

It will also discuss plans to hike the carbon fee rate to NT$1,200-NT$1,800 per metric ton of emissions by 2030, Huang said.

Once the committee has submitted its proposals, the Ministry of the Environment will review them for final approval and begin the relevant legal procedures, he added.

According to regulations announced by the ministry last week, Taiwan will begin collecting carbon fees in 2026, with 2025 being used as a preparation window in which only reporting of emission amounts for the previous year will be required.

Data compiled by the ministry based on 2022 emissions has shown that a total of 550 emitters meet the 25,000-metric ton threshold for paying a carbon fee.

At its previous meeting in July, the committee reviewed estimates showing that a carbon fee of NT$300 per metric ton would lead to a 0.12 percentage point drop in gross domestic product (GDP), while a NT$500 fee would cause a 0.2 percentage point fall.

Every 0.1 percentage point drop in GDP is equivalent to around NT$23.5 billion, based on GDP in 2023, according to ministry.

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