(left to right) TCX General Manager Joshua Tien, NSYSU CCRS team leader Prof. You-Ren Wang, YC Consultants Ltd. General Manager Robert Shih, The Center for Energy and Environmental Research Director Prof. Je-Liang Liou from Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research, TWSE and TCX Chairman Sherman Lin, Ministry of Environment Deputy Minister Wen-Chen Shih, NSYSU CCRS Director Prof. Hung-Jeng Tsai, CTCI Foundation Resource and Environment Research Center Researcher Dr. Po-Yao Kuo, Industrial Technology Research Institute Green Energy & Environment Research Laboratories Senior Engineer Dr. Chen-An Lien, TCX Senior Vice President Seren Chen, at the seminar.

Taiwan's carbon fee system is officially implemented this year (2025). In order to increase the country's and industry's carbon reduction efforts, the Ministry of Environment is currently planning the Taiwan Cap and Trade System (TW ETS). In the future, a dual-track carbon pricing system that connects with the international trading systems will be established. 

The "Green Growth Alliance" has recently been established, and the government is planning to pilot the TW ETS in the second half of next year, and be officially launched in 2027-2028. In order to support the national carbon pricing policy and communicate with the society, the TCX and the TWSE have commissioned the National Sun Yat-sen University Center for Carbon Research and Solution (CCRS) to organize the "2025 Cap and Trade International ETS Comparison Seminar", inviting representatives from industry, government, academia and research fields to analyze the advantages and challenges of the ETS systems worldwide. Nearly 200 industry representatives actively participated in the seminar and exchanged ideas with each other.

The TWSE and TCX Chairman Sherman Lin said in his speech that the TWSE and the TCX have actively carried out research on ETS of various regions and have gained an in-depth understanding of supporting measures on financial and tax problems, looking forward to provide Taiwan with a solid foundation for carbon trading market, and connect with the global carbon market systems.

Ministry of Environment Deputy Minister Wen-Chen Shih opened the seminar with "Introduction to the Cap and Trade System", and led the participants to understand the key mechanisms of ETS system in an easy-to-understand manner from the ten steps of system design, supporting measures, implementation and framework review. Deputy Minister Shih stated that the Taiwan carbon fee system still faces considerable challenges in the early stages of social communication after two years of design and implementation. Therefore, the government will start multi-party communication for the future cap and trade system as soon as possible, aiming to design an ETS system that takes into account both carbon reduction effectiveness and costs.

In order to learn from the international ETS experience and improve the domestic mechanism design, the seminar invited Professor Je-Liang Liou, Director of the Center for Energy and Environmental Research of the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research, Dr. Chen-An Lien, Senior Engineer of the Green Energy & Environment Research Laboratories of the Industrial Technology Research Institute, and Professor You-Ren Wang, Team Leader of the CCRS of the NSYSU, to analyze and share the ETS of the EU, Japan, and South Korea as cases.

Director Je-Liang Liou systematically introduced the development of the EU ETS. As an important tool of EU climate policy, EU ETS has undergone adjustments and improvements in four stages of development, providing important experience references for global carbon pricing and carbon market development. He also shared that the biggest uncertainty of the carbon market mechanism lies in price fluctuations. If the environmental policies are combined with financial instruments, companies should be able to achieve carbon reduction results while taking into account carbon cost management.

Dr. Chen-An Lien pointed out that Japan launched the Green Transformation Emission Trading System (GX ETS) in 2023. The GX Alliance is composed of top domestic companies that will voluntarily participate in the carbon market, with financial instruments related to carbon reduction, to launch a "simultaneous economic growth and emission reduction" strategy, that is, while reducing emissions, the companies are encouraged to be involved in industry investment and emission reduction actions. Also, the companies should proactively set emission reduction targets and disclose to the public, to actively invest in technology development and transformation, in order to drive green growth of the industry.

Professor You-Ren Wang analyzed South Korea’s K-ETS market system, and proposed policy advice based on problems such as insufficient market liquidity, excessive price fluctuations, allowance disputes, and excessive government intervention. He also pointed out the importance of the MRV system and suggested that Taiwan should establish a proper inspection and verification system in advance.

In addition, this seminar invited industry representatives to present practical viewpoints. Robert Shih, the general manager of YC Consultants Ltd., quoted the annual global ETS status report and stated that emerging economies in Asia and Latin America, such as India, Indonesia, and Brazil, have recently planned and developed carbon trading systems, which will lead the next wave of carbon trading system development. At the same time, it is seen that carbon offsets and allowance verification mechanisms are increasingly valued in the design of ETS systems, and their importance is more obvious in emerging ETS systems. 

Dr. Po-Yao Kuo, a senior researcher at the Resource and Environment Research Center of the CTCI Foundation, shared his many years of research results and experience under the title "Examining the Composite Mechanism of the EU ETS and CBAM from the Perspective of Steel Industry". He pointed out that the EU ETS has provided excess free allowance to the domestic steel industry over the years, which is equivalent to subsidizing the steel industry. Therefore, the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) will actually make Taiwanese manufacturers bear carbon costs far higher than EU manufacturers, affecting the competitiveness of Taiwanese manufacturers. He believes that the EU should adjust the CBAM system to comply with the EU's basic proposition of promoting a fair competition environment.

Professor Hung-Jeng Tsai, Director of the CCRS of NSYSU, concluded the seminar by emphasizing that the establishment of a cap and trade and ETS mechanism in Taiwan requires collaborations between public and private sectors, with communication and coordination among the government, enterprises, civic groups and various industries. While learning from international experience, the spirit of learning by doing can be applied to gradually and continuously revise the relevant systems, and move towards the sustainable goal of achieving a balance between the economy, society and the environment.
 

The six speakers presented wonderful speeches and analyses on international ETS systems, which received active responses from the audience during the discussion session.

🔗Article Source：United Daily News (udn.com)