The Environmental Protection Administration unveiled a set of regulations to manage Taiwan’s carbon emissions, paving the way for a trading platform.
“Local enterprises already participating in the government’s early action crediting plan or carbon offset program can now open carbon accounts hosted by the EPA,” said Chou Shu-wan, a senior specialist in the EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Management Office, April 19.
The accounts will register EPA-verified voluntary emissions reductions, which can be used as offsets in environmental impact assessment for plant expansion, or sold to other domestic enterprises, she said.
“With EPA permission, account holders are also allowed to purchase carbon credits from foreign firms to offset their own emissions.”
As the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act has been pending legislative approval since 2007, the EPA has taken the initiative to establish a domestic platform regulating emissions trade programs and tracking carbon, Chou added.
As part of a cap-and-trade scheme, the EPA inaugurated an early action crediting plan and a carbon offset program in September 2010, rewarding participants with credits in proportion to the greenhouse gas emissions they have managed to reduce or plan to cut compared to EPA standards.
In 2008 President Ma Ying-jeou pledged to cut Taiwan’s carbon emissions back to 2005 levels by 2025.
