Brian Hioeby Brian Hioe
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Photo Credit: Green Citizen Action Alliance/Facebook
MORE THAN 1,000 people participated in a climate march on November 1st. The demonstration was organized by over 100 civic groups, proving to be the largest climate protest in over twenty years.
In particular, the protest aimed to be larger than the usual cluster of environmental organizations in Taiwan. As such, the march also saw participation by labor groups, Indigenous organizations, and human rights groups.
The march called on the government to take stronger action on decarbonization targets, calling on the Lai administration to cut 52% of carbon emissions by 2035 and net zero emissions by 2050. This would be an increase of current goals that only call for cutting 38% of emissions by 2035.
The Lai administration stated that it would announce its third phase of carbon reduction commitments ahead of the upcoming COP30 summit, as drafted by the National Climate Change Committee. However, environmental groups were critical of the goals for not doing enough, especially given the urgency of the climate crisis, as well as the fact that countries worldwide will not meet climate goals under the Paris Agreement.
More broadly, the Lai administration was called on to build resilience in the energy grid and expand access to green power. However, this would also have to be carried out in a manner that is democratic and consults with local residents–pushback against renewable energy infrastructure sometimes occurs in Taiwan because construction is implemented in a top-down, developmentalist manner, without adequate consultation with the needs of local communities. Renewable energy projects can themselves sometimes be destructive to the environment, one local example being a wind farm in Pingtung.
Photo credit: Green Citizen Action Alliance/Facebook
To this extent, the renewable energy transition was called on to be just, equitable, and inclusive of groups in society, such as youth and Indigenous. Specifically, the renewable energy transition was called on to be implemented in such a manner that respects the cultural and land rights of Taiwanese Indigenous. It has often historically been the case that energy infrastructure is built on Indigenous lands or in locations that have a significant impact on Indigenous communities.
The environmental movement has declined in strength in recent years, since the DPP took power under the Tsai and Lai administrations. For one, at the start of the 2010s, large demonstrations against nuclear power were a regular feature of the protest landscape.
Even so, it has been less common for marches to take place about the issue of climate change. Taiwan’s voluntary ratification of agreements on climate change often occurs not because of a sense that the climate crisis is an urgent and pressing issue, but because this is seen by the Taiwanese government as a way to secure a foothold in an international community from which it is excluded. This was historically, too, the impetus for Taiwan to voluntarily ratify UN covenants on human rights despite not being a member of the UN.
The lack of visible protests against climate change occurs in spite of the fact that the impact of climate change is increasingly visible in Taiwan. For example, typhoon season sometimes results in few, if any, typhoons hitting Taiwan, resulting in droughts. Taiwan has also seen historic highs in temperature, with summer-like conditions lasting into what would normally be the autumn and winter, resulting in typhoons that occur in what is normally winter.
Still, the debate about environmentalism has become increasingly partisan, with the KMT hitting out at renewable energy as an untested, potentially dangerous form of energy. Disinformation has begun to circulate online with claims such as that solar panels cause toxic harm to wildlife. Such arguments are made as part of calls for a return to nuclear energy, drawing on social conservatism and suspicion about what are perceived as new, untested forms of energy compared to nuclear energy. While the Lai administration itself is more likely motivated by the issue of climate goals through a desire to win international accolades for Taiwan, it can be expected that the KMT may take aim at environmental groups and advocacy overall, perceiving environmental groups as aligned with the DPP, even when such groups themselves usually do not see themselves that way.