Taipei City Government

As the impact of climate change becomes more significant, greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction is now a global consensus. As the capital of Taiwan, Taipei City must lead by example to implement GHG reduction initiatives and keep up with the international trend. On February 18, Taipei City was awarded the “A” score for the 2019 Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) evaluation, clinching the honor for the second time in 2 years, indicating that Taipei City’s tangible actions in curbing climate change have received international recognition.

The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) explained that CDP is an independent non-profit organization started by international investment firms including Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, and HSBC. Taipei City has participated in the CDP since 2011, voluntarily registering GHG reduction achievements every year. In May 2019, CDP revealed the result of 596 cities around the globe that partook in the 2018 evaluations, and only 7% of them received the “A” score, including Taipei City. Taipei is also the only Asian city to be featured in an article. In 2019, Taipei City stood up to the challenge and once again clinched the A score out of 850 cities that participated in the CDP evaluation (only 105 cities received the A score). In other words, Taipei City clinched the A score for the CDP evaluation for 2 straight years!

Looking at the international GHG management trend, the national level strategies are often hampered by uncertainties, such as carbon reduction agreements, and since most of the carbon emissions are concentrated in major cities, in recent years the main focus of carbon reduction has therefore shifted from country to city, while city carbon reduction efforts also act as the foundation of national carbon reduction work. The number of cities participating in the 2019 CDP evaluation has increased considerably, signifying that cities are able to stipulate flexible carbon reduction policies to combat climate change based on the local conditions, and by sharing their successful experiences and case studies the competitiveness and sustainability of the respective countries will be facilitated. Furthermore, with cities spearheading the local climate change initiatives, the transparency and traceability of information will be ensured to attain climate security in the future.

The DEP pointed out that since the inauguration of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction and Management Act in July 2015, Taipei City Government designated 2005 as the base year in December of the same year. By consolidating the San Francisco Urban Environmental Accords with the Greenhouse Gas Reduction and Management Act, the DEP proposed the goal of reducing carbon emissions by 25% and 50% by 2030 and 2050 respectively. Various carbon reduction measures implemented by the city passed 2018 Taipei City GHG Audit and accredited by the British Standards Institution (BSI). The results reveal that GHG emissions have decreased by approximately 960,000 tons compared to 2005, equivalent to a reduction of roughly 7.3%, demonstrating that Taipei City’s long-term commitment to carbon reduction is beginning to pay dividends.

Since Taipei City’s primary industry consists of the service sector, GHG audit results conducted in 2018 illustrate that about 70% of GHG emissions can be attributed to indirect emissions during power consumption. In particular, residential and business emissions account for roughly 75% while transportation takes up 20%. Consequently, power conservation is considered the top carbon reduction strategy in Taipei City, where residential, business and transportation will be included as key carbon reduction areas. In light of this, the uniqueness of Taipei City’s carbon reduction initiative is “saving energy, performance upgrade, and low carbon transformation.” Since 2018, the city has implemented the “City-County Joint Electricity Saving Action in Residential and Commercial Areas” to subsidize the service industry, hospitals, communities, hotels, and schools to replace lighting fixtures, AC equipment, fridges, and introduce energy management systems, etc. Statistics indicate that the total power consumption in 2018 decreased by 197 million kWh (equivalent to 431,800 tons of CO2) compared to 2017.

In terms of transportation, besides continuing to optimize the public transport system, promote shared transport, and expand the YouBike system, the Clean Air 2.0 campaign will be implemented, focusing on dimensions such as low pollution, green transport, and regional joint defenses to create an electric car-friendly environment, introduce electric buses, as well as phase out old diesel vehicles and two-stroke motorcycles in order to reduce GHG emissions. In the future, Taipei City will continue to implement climate change-related actions inspired by the concept of Global Perspective – Taipei Action to keep up with the international developments and strive to realize the vision of becoming a carbon-neutral metropolis.