Although the Republic of China (Taiwan) has been excluded from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its related mechanisms, it remains keen to join international efforts aimed at saving energy and reducing carbon emissions.
As a responsible member of the international community, Taiwan is committed to contributing to the fight against climate change, and is one of the few countries to have voluntarily announced reduction targets for carbon dioxide emissions.
According to the 2012 Key World Energy Statistics released by the International Energy Agency (IEA), Taiwan’s carbon dioxide emissions amounted to 270.22 million tons in 2010, making it the world’s 20th largest emitter with 0.89% of the total.
Reducing emission
Taiwan aims to bring national carbon dioxide emissions from fuel combustion back to 2005 levels by 2020 and to 2000 levels by 2025, in line with global trends in this field.
Moreover, Taiwan has decided to reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by at least 30% relative to the business-as-usual (BAU) benchmark by 2020. All these show that Taiwan is determined to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
Currently, Taiwan is the world’s largest LED manufacturer and the second largest solar cell producer. It is also the world’s eighth largest manufacturer of 2MW wind turbine generators.
As the country aims to create a green environment, in 2012 alone, the total investment in green industries in Taiwan was around US$1.44 billion. Total output exceeded US$12.5 billion, creating 65,100 job opportunities.
Observer limits
In recent years, more efforts have been made to save energy and reduce carbon emissions. However, due to Taiwan’s unique international political status, it has until now been represented by the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) as an observer in sessions of the Conference of the Parties (COP). As an observer, delegates from Taiwan have only limited access to COP events.
ITRI has been holding side events at COP sessions since 2010, to demonstrate Taiwan’s determination to join global efforts to combat climate change. In 2013, nine allies voiced support for Taiwan’s meaningful participation in the UNFCCC at the high-level segment of COP18 (Conference on Climate Change).
Furthermore, 16 allies wrote to UNFCCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres in support of Taiwan. The support received from allies indicates that Taiwan is ready to participate in the UNFCCC as an observer.
World Health Assembly
Since May 2009, Taiwan’s Ministry of Health and Welfare has been invited to attend the World Health Assembly (WHA) as an observer under the designation “Chinese Taipei.” Meanwhile, in September 2013, the ROC’s Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) was invited as a guest to attend the 38th Session of the Assembly of ICAO under the name ‘Chinese Taipei.’
On the same token, Taiwan strongly urges the international community to support its participation in the UNFCCC by granting the ROC’s Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) observer status in COP.
Source: Environmental Protection Administration, Government of the Republic of Taiwan (Taiwan)
