Taiwan Lecture Series: How does Taiwan Tackle Climate Change Despite Exclusion from the UNFCCC?
Did you miss this webinar? The full recording is available on ISDP’s YouTube channel.
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) COP 29 is held between the 11th and 22nd of November 2024 in Baku, Azerbaijan. The event highlights the global efforts to combat climate change that Taiwan seeks to align with. Due to Taiwan’s exclusion from the United Nations (UN), participating in COP 29 in an official capacity is hindered. Taiwan, nevertheless, aims to reach net-zero emissions in 2050 in line with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With the goal of reaching net-zero emissions in 2050, Taiwan’s semiconductor manufacturing industry, consuming a great amount of energy, is working on an energy transition promoting green energy. The industry elevates the island’s geopolitical significance due to semiconductor products’ strategic importance. In this context, the question arises of how Taiwan can sustain its key industries whilst simultaneously realizing the goal of reaching net-zero emissions in 2050.
What are Taiwan’s major climate change-related policies? What challenges does Taiwan face in combatting climate change? How does Taiwan’s exclusion from UNFCCC impact its capacity to combat climate change?
Speakers:
Dr. Huang-Hsiung Hsu was a professor at National Taiwan University in 1992-2011 and joined the Research Center for Environmental Changes, Academia Sinica in 2011. He is currently a distinguished research fellow and the CEO of the Anthropogenic Climate Change Center established in 2021. His research focuses on climate variation and change. He was a key person in initiating and organizing Climate Changes in Taiwan: Scientific Report 2011, 2017, and 2024, which provided important scientific bases for research planning and policy-making in climate change adaptation in Taiwan. He led the development of Taiwan Earth System Model and the participation in Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 6 that contributed scientific bases for the Sixth IPCC Assessment Report. He has been active in connecting climate science and impact studies including climate-land use interaction, climate impacts on Taiwan water resources, and recently on the climate-related financial disclosure.
Dr. Zsuzsa Anna Ferenczy is an Affiliated Scholar at the Department of Political Science of Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Associated Research Fellow at the Institute for Security & Development Policy (ISDP Stockholm), Head of the Associates Network at 9DASHLINE and Fellow at Agora Strategy, Munich. Based in Taiwan, Zsuzsa is an Assistant Professor at the National Dong Hwa University in Hualien. Between 2008 and 2020 Zsuzsa worked as a political advisor in the European Parliament. Her latest book, “Partners in Peace. Why Europe and Taiwan Matter to Each Other” was published in October 2024. Zsuzsa is a regular commentator in international media outlets. She tweets at @zsuzsettte.
Moderators:
- Dr. Klement Ruey-sheng Gu, Representative of Taipei Mission in Sweden
- Dr. Niklas Swanström, Executive Director at ISDP