Premier Su Accelerating 2050 Net-Zero Emissions
Premier Su Tseng-chang, who presided over the "34th Council Meeting of the NCSD, Executive Yuan" today (29 July 2022), mentioned that in the face of extreme climate change, President Tsai Ing-wen announced on April 22, 2021 that "2050 Net-Zero Emissions" is not only a worldwide goal but also Taiwan's national goal. It is hereby requested relevant ministries and councils to continue to accelerate the process to make "Taiwan's Pathway to Net-Zero Emissions in 2050" more concrete, so as to demonstrate the government's determination and aggressiveness in moving towards a net-zero transition. In addition, regarding the "Voluntary National Review", the Premier said that after 2017, Taiwan will once again release the Voluntary National Review, which specifically presents Taiwan's positive actions concerning sustainable development from five perspectives, including the economy, society, environment, government governance and global partnerships to continuously facilitate Taiwan’s pathway towards sustainable development. Moreover, for the 129 sustainable development indicators submitted for amendment, the Premier also requested the NCSD to make further review so as to review the appropriateness of the goals, targets and indicators, with the aim of truly contributing to the overall goal of "sustainable development”.
Premier Su mentioned in his speech that the impact of the extreme climate around the world is becoming increasingly obvious, with heat waves leading to various disasters, such as last week's high temperatures in the United Kingdom reaching over 40°C, causing rail tracks to bend and airport runways to melt. Additionally, Europe and the United States also experienced severe wildfires, including the "Oak Fire" in California, which almost burned half of San Francisco; at the same time, heavy rains continue in China and Japan, while water shortages are severe in some other areas. All these situations are filled with anxiety.
Premier Su pointed out that the global COVID-19 pandemic has entered the third year, and how to reverse the negative impact of the pandemic on sustainable development is a difficult challenge for all people and the world. On May 5, 2022, the Executive Yuan passed an organizational reform bill, including the "Organizational Act of the Ministry of the Environment," and sent it to the Legislative Yuan for review. It is hoped that the effectiveness of climate governance can be improve through the reform of the government organization to properly respond to issues concerning climate change and net-zero transition. We also hope that the Legislative Yuan will support our efforts together.
After listening to the report on the "Review of Taiwan's Sustainable Development Goals and Revision of Indicators" by the Secretariat of the NCSD, Premier Su said that the government has set 336 sustainable development indicators in 2019, and 129 of which have been submitted for revision due to changes in regulations or policy adjustments. Some of these indicators have been successfully promoted and achieved ahead of schedule. For example, the percentage of children under 2 years old using public care and quasi-public care was originally set at 92% by 2030, but it already reached 92.92% at the end of last year. It may not be challenging if the target is raised to 93% by 2030; therefore, there is a need for further adjustment.
Furthermore, Premier Su pointed out that some of the selected indicators may not appropriately fit the goals. For example, the indicator of the number of visitors to the historical sites of injustice was originally set to promote the public's understanding of Taiwan's human rights history through an increase in the number of visitors; however, in addition to using "the number of visitors" as an indicator, a better approach should be found to adopt multiple initiatives to enable Taiwanese people to understand the history of injustice and the hardships went through by our predecessors, so as to achieve substantial goal.
In view of this, Premier Su requested the Secretariat of the NCSD and each working group to make further review, and review the appropriateness of the goals, targets and indicators in light of the comments made by the members of the NCSD, so as to ensure that relevant issues are tracked and evaluated, with the aim of truly contributing to the overall goal of "sustainable development”.
In response to the "Taiwan's Pathway to Net-Zero Emissions in 2050" reported by the Environmental Protection Administration, Executive Yuan, Premier Su said that the more rapidly extreme climates occur, the more dramatic the challenges the world faces. In this regard, President Tsai Ing-wen announced on April 22 last year that "2050 Net-Zero Emissions" is not only a worldwide goal but also Taiwan's national goal, and Premier Su also demanded the achievement of this goal at the meeting of the Executive Yuan on the same day.
Premier Su pointed out that the report was well received by a number of members in attendance; however, there is still room for improvement in the overall objectives and strategies. He required the relevant ministries and councils to continue to communicate with members and seek advice, so as to make the "Taiwan's Pathway to Net-Zero Emissions in 2050" more specific and speed up the process, in an attempt to demonstrate the government's determination and aggressiveness to move towards the net-zero transition.
According to the NCSD, its “Climate Change and Net-Zero Transition Working Group” proposed a cross-departmental "12 Key Strategies" for the "2050 Net-Zero Emissions". For example, with the promotion of renewable energy, solar power in Taiwan is now generating nearly 8 billion kWh of electricity per year, 7 times more than that in 2016, and is gradually becoming an important source of electricity; as for the electrification of transportation, the Ministry of Transportation and Communication has invested in the electrification of urban buses and has so far introduced nearly 1,000 electric buses into operation, achieving remarkable results.
In addition, regarding the “Voluntary National Review” from the Secretariat of the NCSD, Premier Su said that it is not an easy task for a country to voluntarily review its Sustainable Development Goals. There were only 44 countries submitted the reports to the United Nations. Taiwan once again put forward the Voluntary National Review after 2017, which not only helps us to keep abreast with the international community, and carry out exchanges and sharing, but also raise Taiwan’s global visibility. Although Taiwan is not a member of the United Nations, it has been able to demonstrate outstanding performance and make contribution to global sustainability initiatives.
Premier Su pointed out that the second VNR presents Taiwan's recognition of and proactive actions towards sustainable development and universal value from 5 aspects of economy, society, environment, governance, and global partnerships. For example, Taiwan was the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage in 2019 with the best performance in Asia regarding gender equality. Also, during the pandemic, Taiwan's economic performance hit an 11-year high last year. Furthermore, in the face of the pandemic outbreak worldwide, Taiwan also exchanged masks and vaccines with like-minded countries, aiming to create a "positive cycle". These have facilitated Taiwan to continue to advance towards sustainable development.
Premier Su mentioned that the Voluntary National Review represents Taiwan's efforts in sustainable development and will be published online upon approval. It is an important information for Taiwan's internal and external communication. The Secretariat of the NCSD and each working group are requested to make revisions and adjustments with reference to the opinions from the ministries and councils and members for improvement.