Taipei, October 14 (CNA) The Ministry of the Environment (MOE) on Thursday stipulated how companies can generate carbon credits or offset their emissions as part of Taiwan’s efforts to reach net-zero targets. announced regulations.
A framework law, the Climate Change Response Act, was promulgated in February this year, and the Ministry of the Environment said at the time that detailed accompanying regulations would be announced by the end of the year.
Three regulations related to emissions registration and verification were announced earlier this year, but the one that has garnered the most attention and debate is the one related to carbon fees (how much they will cost and who will pay them), which will be announced in December.
On Thursday, the Environment Ministry’s Climate Change Bureau announced two new regulations that will oversee how companies manage carbon emissions. One regulates “voluntary reduction projects” by companies and government agencies, and the other regulates emissions generated by companies during development and construction projects.
Under the first regulation, companies or government agencies that emit less than 25,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide and are therefore not subject to a carbon tax will undertake “voluntary carbon emission reduction projects” that comply with internationally recognized MRV. stipulated to be eligible. (measurable, reportable, verifiable) guidance. This was first proposed in his 2007 Bali Action Plan.
Reductions must be characterized by “additionality, avoidance of overestimation, permanence, exclusive claims for GHG reductions, and avoidance of social and environmental harm,” which the administration says will depend on the amount of carbon. It is characterized as a “high quality offset”. His 2019 Offset Guide published by the Stockholm Environmental Research Institute and the Greenhouse Gas Management Institute.
Huang Weiming, deputy director-general of the Climate Change Agency, said that “additionality” means that companies must make cuts on top of what they are already doing to comply with the country’s existing environmental laws. Then he explained.Air Pollution Control Act
Independent projects are classified into “elimination type” and “reduction/avoidance type.” Carbon removal involves eliminating existing carbon emissions, while carbon reduction and avoidance involves suppressing emissions based on technology.
According to the administration, companies that emit more than 25,000 tons a year, or carbon tax payers, are obligated to reduce their emissions and are therefore not eligible for “voluntary projects.”
People participating in volunteer projects can purchase carbon credits generated to offset a portion of the carbon fee, and will also receive a preferential carbon fee rate if they meet certain reduction targets.
In response to criticism from environmental groups who have opposed preferential tax rates as contradicting the purpose of a carbon price, Administrative Bureau Chief Tsai Lingyi (蔡 Lingyi) stressed that a carbon tax is “not a financial tool.” ” As such, it is simply a means of encouraging companies to try to reduce their emissions, and preferential rates are justified if effective and verified efforts are made.
The second regulation, announced on Thursday, requires new factories, as well as development and high-rise construction projects that emit more than 25,000 tonnes a year, to purchase voluntary carbon credits or It requires companies to offset some of their new emissions by purchasing carbon credits. project, or by implementing certain other countervailing measures.
Offsetting strategies that generate “quasi-carbon credits” include electrifying fuel-powered motorcycles, using high-efficiency air conditioners, and electrifying older agricultural machinery.
Huang said the purpose of “quasi-carbon credits” (known as “effective reductions” in the administration’s official language) is to shift the burden of promoting the use of electric bikes and other energy-efficient products from government to government. He said that. big business.