Taiwan

The island state of Taiwan is not a party to the Kyoto Protocol but it has urged other world nations to accept its participation in the UNFCCC and IPCC, in order to relieve economic pressure from the high cost of carbon reduction strategies. In 2009, UN member states agreed to accept Taiwan as an official observer in the World Health Assembly (WHA), a milestone that has buoyed hopes for its eventual inclusion in the UNFCCC. The government has given a commitment to reduce greenhouse gases emissions to 2008 levels by 2020, and to 2000 levels by 2025. Taiwan has promised by 2030 to cut emissions by 50% from that year’s projected Business as Usual (BAU) level – the level that would occur if no reduction efforts are made. With energy demand continuing to trend upwards, Taiwan’s 2030 BAU is calculated at 428 million tons of GHG, compared to the 2014 total of 277.2 million tons. Accordingly, Taiwan aims to emit only 214 million tons of GHG by 2030 – a 25% decrease from the current volume.