Environmental groups protest industry-friendly carbon pricing rules

Taipei, July 12 (CNA) Environmental groups staged a protest Friday at a public meeting organized by the Ministry of Environment, saying the government’s proposed carbon pricing mechanism unduly favors polluters at the expense of the environment.

The regulations, in addition to the carbon levy rate (which has not yet been set), will also set the amount companies will have to pay for their carbon emissions.

According to the ministry, the regulations are to be announced at the end of August, after considering the opinions of interested parties and conducting another public hearing.

During Friday’s meeting, activists from the Environmental Rights Foundation, Taiwan Climate Action Network, Green Citizens’ Action Alliance and Citizen of the Earth voiced their opposition to the current draft regulations, with some holding a banner reading, “Low carbon prices benefit businesses, climate costs are paid by people!”

Activists have expressed opposition to the proposed minimum threshold of 25,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. Companies that produce less than that amount will not pay any carbon dioxide emissions fees, under the draft regulations.

They also disapprove of granting lower emission rates to industries at high risk of carbon leakage, referring to companies that relocate operations overseas to avoid paying carbon taxes.

Moreover, environmentalists oppose allowing polluters to use carbon credits to receive a discount of up to 15 percent on taxable emissions (i.e., the 10 percent cap for domestic carbon credits and the 5 percent cap for international carbon credits).

The groups argued the rules would distort price signals, encourage polluters and slow Taiwan’s transition to carbon neutrality.

Lu Kuan-hui (呂冠輝), legal adviser to the Environmental Rights Foundation, asked whether the ministry had assessed how much the reduced carbon pricing could affect Taiwan’s net-zero ambitions.

“We have a target for 2025 for emissions to be 10 percent lower than the 2005 base year,” Lu said. Taiwan’s latest National Greenhouse Gas Inventory (GHG) Report shows emissions in 2022 are only down a small 1.77 percent from 2005.

Cheng Tai-chin (鄭泰鈞) of local environmental group Citizen of the Earth said the European Union has a provision to end the carbon leakage risk adjustment mechanism by 2034, “but such an end point has not been set in Taiwan’s regulations.”

Huang Wei-ming (黃偉鳴), deputy director-general of climate change at the Ministry of Environment, responded that regulations on how major emitters pay will be continually revised, but current measures are primarily aimed at achieving 2030 carbon reduction targets.

Huang added that industries wishing to benefit from discounts using the proposed carbon leakage risk adjustment mechanism “will first need to propose and implement their emission reduction plans to qualify for the discount, which is effectively different from free EU allowances.”

He added that emissions subject to the fee would be calculated from the date of the official announcement of the rate.

Environment Minister Peng Chi-ming (彭啟明) said last week that there would be one or two more meetings of the carbon pricing review committee before the rate is set.