Delayed carbon fee rate to be set before the end of 2024: Minister

Taipei, Aug. 14 (CNA) Minister of Environment Peng Chi-ming (彭啟明) said Wednesday that Taiwan's long-delayed carbon fee rate will be set before the end of this year pending two further meetings of the government's review committee.

"The fifth meeting of the carbon fee rate review committee is set to take place in early September," and, after that, one more meeting is needed for the final decision on the rate to be set, Peng told reporters on the sidelines of a forum on reporting of corporate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

According to news releases, committee members discussed other countries' examples and simulations of how different fee rates would affect the economy at previous meetings.

The government had originally said the carbon fee rate would be set no later than the first quarter of 2024 but that date has been repeatedly pushed back.

Peng also revealed that there have been various voices from the industrial and commercial sectors, "especially some from the traditional sector who said they are already facing business challenges caused by the recent dumping from the neighboring countries."

"But we have reminded them that the era of carbon emissions coming at a cost has arrived regardless of whether your business is making money," he said.

The minister added that the regulations regulating who is to pay, how the carbon fees are to be paid, and how the carbon fee-liable enterprises can be qualified for preferential rates are to be officially announced at the end of August after their drafts were tabled at the end of April.

The ministry's Climate Change Administration Deputy Director-General Huang Wei-ming (黃偉鳴) said that how much enterprises are to be charged depends on the date when the rate is announced, as chargeable emissions will be calculated from when the rate is officially announced.

To prevent enterprises' dishonest reporting or greenwashing, the minister said the process of compiling GHG inventories and verification would be monitored.

The minister said government agencies would also be required to report emissions, adding that regulations would be officially announced soon.