In the run-up to the UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn from 6-17 November, Taiwan’s Minister of the Environmental Protection Administration Mr Lee Ying-yuan has written an article setting out Taiwan’s long-term approach to tackling climate change. Though Taiwan is unable to participate in the Conference, the Minister has reiterated the country’s important environmental role as well as the need for global cooperation on the matter.
In the article titled ‘Protecting Our Planet through Climate Action on Multiple Fronts’, Minister Lee highlights Taiwan’s exposure to some of the worst effects of climate change, citing a number of extreme weather events it has experienced in 2017, such as unusually large quantities of rainfall, the two typhoons (Nesat and Haitang) that struck Taiwan in close succession in late July and Taiwan’s hottest temperatures on record. The Minister stresses these examples provide irrefutable evidence of climate change and its consequences.
Minister Lee also sheds light on the independent measures the government of Taiwan has taken to address climate change, such as introducing the Greenhouse Gas Reduction and Management Act and formulating the National Climate Change Action Guidelines on how to control and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Detailing Taiwan’s substantial Greenhouse Gas Reduction Action Plan as well as its ambitious 2025 targets for renewable energy generation, the Minister explains Taiwan is doing all it can to combat climate change through its voluntary commitment to the Paris Agreement and striving to cut carbon emissions to 50 percent of 2005 levels by 2050.
Noting that Taiwan’s efforts to protect the environment through recycling and waste reduction have caught the attention of international media, Minister Lee states his hope that by 2022 Taiwan will have a become a circular economy hub in Asia which will continue to light the way towards a sustainable world. The Minister finishes making clear that Taiwan is a very positive force in pursuing the solutions needed to preserve our planet, stressing its willingness to work with other countries to share its experience and knowledge in environmental protection.