TAIWAN THINKERS RECOMMEND GOING LOW CARBON

Taipei does a lot of business with mainland China, which means it has a lot of influence in the country that just became the biggest emitter in the world.

Academics Recommend Low Carbon Economy To Tackle Climate Change
Flor Wang, June 17, 2007 (China News Agency)

WHO
Chinese academics (Lin Tzu-lun, professor, Shih Hsin University), Japanese Environmental Protection Administration experts,
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WHAT
Seminar attendees agreed a low-carbon economy is the best measure to deal with climate change.

WHEN
The seminar was June 17.

WHERE
The seminar was in Taipei, China.

WHY
- Lin called for “bolder measures” and “a clear-cut policy” on climate change and offered UK policies as a model for controlling emissions. He called a low-carbon economy “an environmental imperative” and said it would have little impact on GDP because costs would be offset by economic opportunities.
- Lin cited the British white paper on energy policy of 2003 that called for renewable energy, a 60% reduction of emissions by 2050 and set a standard for the European Union, Canada and New Zealand.
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- He warned that China’s failure to face climate change would have “serious economic and social costs.”
- A Japanese expert said that nuclear energy required backup from greenhouse gas emitting plants and was, therefore, not the best direction to take, especially considering the problems of nuclear waste and accidents.

QUOTES
Japanese expert: "…using nuclear power is not helpful in reducing global warming.”