•Publication Date：11/22/2013
•Source： Taiwan Today
Taiwan highlighted its efforts in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and promoting carbon trading during a sideline event at the ongoing 19th session of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change and ninth session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol in Warsaw, Poland, according to the ROC Environmental Protection Administration Nov. 21.
“We have launched a greenhouse gas management platform in line with global standards to make such emissions measurable, reportable and verifiable,” said Chien Hui-chen, counselor and executive director of the EPA Greenhouse Gas Reduction Management Office. “Relative management systems are maturing and we have the capability to link our systems with international mechanisms.”
Chien made the remarks at the event on building market links between various carbon trading and pricing systems around the World. Co-hosted by the International Emissions Trading Association and Industrial Technology Research Institute of Taiwan, the event was also attended by Kang Hee-chan, senior research fellow at South Korea’s National Institute of Environmental Research; Harmke Immink, principal carbon advisor of South Africa’s Promethium Carbon company; Andrei Marcu, senior advisor and head of the Center for European Policy Studies’ Carbon Market Forum; and Xueman Wang, the World Bank’s senior carbon finance specialist.
Chien highlighted the ROC government’s low-carbon policy and different phases of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. These range from encouraging companies to take part in offset programs and establishing carbon emissions standards, to the building of a public-private alliance in clean development and carbon credit management.
The government is also working to establish cap-and-trade rules based on the draft Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act and promote carbon credit exchanges with the world, she added.
Participants underscored the paramount importance of carbon trading systems in fighting global warming, stating that instead of working under the U.N. system, there seems to be a trend of building bilateral or multilateral cooperation in greenhouse gas reduction goals and carbon management mechanisms.
Chien said this development offers Taiwan flexibility and space in promoting related policies and mapping out a management strategy more in keeping with the UNFCCC principles of cost-effectiveness and minimum-cost emissions reductions.
The COP 19, which runs Nov. 11-22, has attracted more than 10,000 participants from 190 countries.
