Climate Change Administration

The amount of CO₂ in the atmosphere has increased since the start of the Industrial Revolution while humans have excessively relied on fossil fuels. As a result, global warming and climate change phenomena have become increasingly significant. To address this urgent and interdisciplinary international environmental issue, the Department of Air Quality Protection and Noise Control of Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) firstly took charge of planning greenhouse gas reduction tasks, and have participated in the Conference of the Parties (COP) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its subsidiary meetings since 1995.

• 1. Office of Greenhouse Gas Reduction Management

  The EPA established the "Office of Greenhouse Gas Reduction Management" on July 1st, 2008. On August 18 of the same year, the organizational structure was expanded to three divisions: "Mitigation Strategy Planning," "Verification and Trading," and "Adaptation and Promotion." These divisions are responsible for developing and coordinating policies and regulations of climate change and greenhouse gas management.

  Furthermore, on January 8, 2017, in order to integrate environmental sanitation, greenhouse gas reduction, and management activities, and the promotion of Low-carbon and Sustainable Homeland, the EPA merged the Office of Greenhouse Gas Reduction Management into the Department of Environmental Sanitation and Toxic Substance Management.

  

• 2. Office of Climate Change

  To enhance and integrate the capacity to respond to climate change, the EPA established the "Office of Climate Change" on July 1, 2021. The office consisted of four divisions: "Policy Planning Division," "Emission Management Division," "Carbon Reduction Action Division," and "Climate Change Adaptation Division" to address the Greenhouse Gas Reduction and Management Act amendment, the implementation of net-zero carbon emission pathways analyzation, carbon pricing mechanisms establishment, effectively responding to international carbon border adjustment mechanisms, low-carbon education and outreach to the public, industry emission reduction and integrating cross-department adaptation tasks. The office also devoted more resources to enhance the capacity for climate change response and carbon reduction initiatives.

  

• 3. Preparatory Office for the Climate Change Agency of the Ministry of Environment

  Following the promulgation of the amended “Climate Change Response Act” on February 15, 2023, climate change-related tasks grew rapidly, and the draft organization act of the Ministry of Environment and its third level central organ had gained preliminary support from the Legislative Yuan. To supplement the urgent need of personnel, the Preparatory Office of the Climate Change Administration, Ministry of Environment was established on April 22, 2023, Earth Day. It office consisted of four divisions: "Comprehensive Planning Division", "Emission Management Division", "Mitigation Promotion Division", and "Adaptation and Resilience Division." The main tasks are drafting subsidiary laws related to climate change response, developing the carbon fee implementation, monitoring the progress of sectoral regulatory goals, assessing the progress of various ministries in achieving net-zero pathways, and preparing for the implementation of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) in line with the European Union.

  

• 4. Climate Change Administration

  On August 22, 2023, Environmental Protection Administration was officially upgraded to the Ministry of Environment, with the establishment of the Climate Change Administration. This was done to address the future international trend of achieving net-zero emissions and global environmental changes, strengthen future policy formulation, promotion, and implementation in our country, and ensure the future implementation of periodic regulatory goals. In response to future international carbon border taxes and the trend of carbon reduction in the supply chain, efforts will be accelerated to promote future carbon pricing, strengthen the carbon inventory mechanism, seek carbon reduction technologies and strategies, alleviate international pressures, and assist in the transformation of industries in our country.