Taipei, Oct. 19 (CNA) Taiwan Carbon Solution Exchange (TCX) Chairman Sherman Lin (林修銘) said on Thursday that international carbon credits are expected to be available on the exchange by the end of the year.
Lin told the audience at the Net-Zero Taiwan International Summit, held as part of Energy Taiwan 2023 exhibition, that the TCX expects to have international carbon credits available for purchase by the end of December, earlier than the exchange of domestic carbon credits.
The exchange of domestic carbon credits will only begin after the country starts to collects carbon fees, which is expected to happen only in 2025, Lin said.
Explaining Taiwan’s carbon credit exchange, Lin said that whereas a cap-and-trade system is mandatory, “Taiwan’s [way of restricting carbon emissions] is via carbon fees and voluntary reductions.”
Cap-and-trade systems are most notably implemented in the EU, where a total cap is placed on industries, and those who exceed the cap have to purchase the carbon credits generated by those who are able to reduce by more than required.
The TCX, launched in August, can help companies execute carbon disclosure, the exchange chairman said. “When carbon has a price, people will gravitate toward carbon reductions.”
Lin, who doubles as chairman of the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE), stressed that priced carbon emissions can also stimulate the innovation of low-carbon innovation technologies and the development of start-ups with such innovations.
“We now have the Taiwan Innovation Board (TIB) which can help innovative start-ups with said technologies to garner support in the capital market,” he said.
The TIB is a trading platform launched by TWSE in 2021. The aim is to encourage companies with key and core technologies and innovation capabilities or innovative business models to raise long-term and stable funds through the capital market,” the TWSE said in the launching press release.
Lin told the local media in previous interviews that revitalizing the TIB was one of his goals after taking over the TWSE in 2022.
The TCX on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding with the British Standards Institution to set up certification courses for carbon credit exchange.
Only by completing three different levels of courses and passing the exam can individuals be certified as professionals in the field and perform carbon-credit-related tasks in Taiwan’s listed companies and other institutions, according to the TCX.
After the signing ceremony, Lin said that working with institutions with international credibility should help to sort out carbon credit exchange information which is currently chaotic in Taiwan.
Meanwhile, also on Wednesday, the Ministry of Environment (MOENV) stressed in a press statement that the carbon fee rate will be discussed and decided by a review committee in the first quarter of 2024.
The statement was released as clarification after Vice Premier Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) said earlier on Wednesday during the opening of Energy Taiwan 2023 that the MOENV is set to announce a carbon fee rate of NT$320 per metric ton.
