The Legislative Yuan passed the "Climate Change Response Act" for the third reading today, enshrining the 2050 net-zero emissions target into law.

(Photo by reporter Liao Zhenhui)

[Reporter Chen Jiayi/Taipei Report] The Legislative Yuan passed the "Climate Change Response Act" for the third reading today, enshrining the 2050 net zero emission target into law.

The environmental group issued a joint statement, affirming the goal of net zero emissions, a just transition, and a low-carbon diet into the law, but there are still shortcomings, such as the clear definition of ministries' powers and responsibilities, the lack of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and calling for carbon fees Rates and other projects should not be delayed again and again, but should be completed quickly.

The Environmental Rights Protection Foundation, Green Citizen Action Alliance, Earth Citizen Foundation, Taiwan Environmental Planning Association, Housewives Alliance Environmental Protection Foundation, Taiwan Climate Action Network Research Center, Environmental Justice Foundation, Greenpeace Foundation, etc. issued a joint statement.

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Lin Yanting, a researcher at the Environmental Rights Protection Foundation, affirmed that the revision of the law will incorporate the powers and responsibilities of ministries into the law, and clearly define the responsible administrative agencies. The powers and responsibilities of the Ministry of Finance have not yet been clearly defined. For example, the Ministry of Finance should assume the responsibility of green finance and taxation and formulate a carbon tax so that the carbon fee can be linked to the carbon tax in the future. However, the carbon tax has completely disappeared in the revision of the climate law, which is obviously contrary to the international carbon tax trend. .

In addition, the Ministry of Health and Welfare should also be responsible for the management of the physical and mental health and public health risks that may be caused by the high temperature, cold snaps and other issues that citizens face under climate change.

Lin Yanting said that in terms of the carbon fee policy that everyone is concerned about, although there is a new fee rate review committee, the detailed rate and use must be determined by the relevant sub-laws. At present, there is still a lack of substantive rate formulation. A great legacy.

In order to enable the introduction of carbon fees in 2024, Lin Yanting believes that the Environmental Protection Agency should provide scientific research on the relationship between fee rates and carbon reduction capabilities for citizens to review the effectiveness of its policies, and it must specify how to disclose the budgeting status and implementation of the carbon fee fund every year The performance report and how to increase the fee rate according to Taiwan's carbon reduction process to meet the net-zero path. It is hoped that a fee rate review meeting will be organized in the first quarter of this year to propose a plan for future carbon fee collection.

In addition, Lin Yanting believes that the addition of a special chapter on adaptation is one of the highlights of this revision of the climate law. However, there is still a lack of discussion related to adjustment during the revision process. In the final negotiation, the text of the special chapter on adjustment was hurriedly passed, resulting in the failure to fully consider the impact of climate change. Potential impact on human rights.

He also regrets that the climate citizen litigation clause has not been incorporated into the law, and the legalization of climate supervision cannot be improved.