Written by Maytapat Pararaman
Image credit: Dr Peng Chi-ming (left), a former general secretary of the Taiwan Climate Partnership, and Nick Molho, then an executive director of the UK’s Aldersgate Group, hosted a press conference at COP26 in 2021. Photo By Taiwan Panorama.
There is a lack of systemic analysis of the environmental effects of semiconductor production in Taiwan, making it difficult to determine whether Taiwanese technologies preserve the environment. Still, the Basic Environment Act (環境基本法) and the Environmental Impact Assessment Act (環境影響評估法) have played crucial roles in protecting Taiwan’s nature since the late twentieth century. The Basic Environment Act—first discussed in 1988 and finally passed in December 2002—is the most essential law enacted by the Environmental Protection Administration, which transformed environmental protection into a prime consideration of economic development for the first time in Taiwan’s history. Meanwhile, the Environmental Impact Assessment Act enacted in 1994 is meant to minimise and forecast the negative impact of a developmental project on the ecological, social, cultural and economic environment in a certain locality. Both Acts were written with technology as a consideration. For the Basic Environment Act, Article 3 states: “Based on the long-term interests of the nation, economic, scientific and technological and social developments must be given equal consideration as environmental protection.” Likewise, under the Environmental Impact Assessment Act, Article 5 states, “environmental impact assessments shall be conducted for the following development activities that are deemed to have a potential adverse impact on the environment.” One of the development activities is “the establishment of a factory or the development of an industrial park.” Thus, regarding these two Acts from the Ministry of Environment (環境部), Taiwan’s environmental law has incorporated environmental conservation into the development of technologies. How have the achievements of eco-friendly Taiwanese lawmakers after the authoritarian era truly brought about change and impacted Taiwan’s technology development?
The RE100 Initiative, COP-26 and Taiwan’s Technologies
For Dr Bi-yu Chang (張必瑜), a former Deputy Director of the SOAS Centre of Taiwan Studies from SOAS, University of London, Taiwan, matters in international relations. She explains that Taiwan’s diplomatic isolation in the international community, the triangular relationships between the United States, China, and Taiwan, as well as the cross-strait tension and cooperation, make Taiwan a crucial part of international relations. While Chang’s ideas regarding Taiwan and international politics are undeniable, Taiwan’s role in promoting sustainability is as politically vital as the aforementioned issues she points out. Advancing the sustainability goals will bring Taiwan closer to the world and the world closer to Taiwan.
In 2015, Dr Simona Grano, a Senior Fellow on Taiwan at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Centre for China Analysis and a Senior Lecturer and Director of the Taiwan Studies Project at the University of Zurich, wrote: “One of the biggest environmental challenges currently facing Taiwan is the damages to soil, land, water and air created by several types of ‘dirty industries,’ such as the semiconductor or the petrochemical sectors, which have selected the country as their ‘safe haven,’ making Taiwan among the world’s leaders in these industries.” Five years later, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) made progress toward preserving ecology. In 2020, TSMC released a report regarding climate change. It wrote, “We [TSMC] believe that there can be mutual prosperity between corporate growth and the natural environment. Therefore, we have deeply embedded green manufacturing, green products, green innovation, and green management into our daily operations.” The report’s appendix refers to the documents from the National Science and Technology Center for Disaster Reduction and the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2021 issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Thus, by referring to the IPCC, understanding Taiwan’s technology development and its association with ecological conservation must consider not only the domestic context but also the international one, not least the United Nations, which has been Taiwan’s bedrock for promoting sustainability.
Dr Huang-Hsiung Hsu (許晃雄), a Distinguished Research Fellow and CEO, Anthropogenic Climate Change Centre, Research Centre for Environmental Changes, Academia Sinica, argued: “The announcement of the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism touched a nerve of Taiwanese industries and government to realise the seriousness of global warming impacts on economics and the environment. The economic loss has been the principal motivation for achieving net-zero in Taiwan.” Apart from the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, the RE100 Initiative and the 26th UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) play a significant role in shaping Taiwanese industries to be more eco-friendly.
Launched in 2014, the RE100 initiative is a global programme in which companies commit to sourcing 100 per cent of their electricity from renewable energy. It is led by the Climate Group in partnership with the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP). TSMC was the first semiconductor company to join the RE100 initiative, and more companies followed afterwards. In 2024, it had 34 company members headquartered in Taiwan. By joining the RE100 initiative, the Taiwanese companies have committed to promoting renewable energy, which is the foundation of green industries. On December 12, 2025, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (中華經濟研究院) launched the “TRE100” green energy initiative to show that its standards and certification mechanisms are consistent with the international RE100 green energy drive. The TRE100, initiated by a highly esteemed think tank in Taiwan, shows Taiwan’s “teamwork” in establishing its own version of the green energy commitment framework, as the TRE100 also provides a platform for SMEs to discuss and gather green electricity demand.
Image credit: The TCP and Taiwan’s ICT industry addressing the global climate crisis. Photo by Taiwan Panorama.
Through online participation in 2021, the Taiwan Climate Partnership (TCP, 台灣氣候聯盟) joined the COP26, which marked a historic turning point for Taiwanese high-tech firms. At COP26, a press conference and forum titled “Climate Ambition into ICT Industry Action” attracted particular attention. The event was hosted by Dr Peng Chi-ming (彭啟明), a former general secretary of the Taiwan Climate Partnership (TCP), and Nick Molho, then an executive director of the UK-based Aldersgate Group, with the former sharing the story of the TCP’s founding by eight of Taiwan’s most important ICT firms. In other words, a Taiwanese delegation has never been absent from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Even though Taiwan has not had its own seat at the UN since 1971, it has nonetheless followed and supported the UN’s agendas, including those aimed at climate change. According to the International Trade Administration, the U.S. Department of Commerce, “during a virtual press conference on November 6, eight major Taiwanese high-tech companies, including ACER, AUO, ASUS, Delta Electronics, LiteOn, Pegatron, TSMC and Taiwan Microsoft—the founding of the TCP—announced their commitment to use 100 per cent renewable energy in their manufacturing processes by 2050.” Thus, at COP26, the TCP has officially begun to share the same vision with the global community, leading to a firmer commitment to conserve nature while aligning with concerns about economic loss.
Is Lai’s Thinking on Technologies Eco-friendly?
“The more the world needs AI, the more it needs a stable, trustworthy and responsible Taiwan,” Lai Ching-te (賴清德), the President of the Republic of China (Taiwan), said at the opening of Computex Taipei last June. “When AI development enters its next stage, it will require collaboration among like-minded and reliable partners around the world.” Computex Taipei is one of the world’s most important technology exhibitions. This year, its theme was “AI Together.” According to the Taipei Times, Computex featured a record-breaking 6,000-plus booths from 1,500 exhibitors representing 33 countries, including Nvidia Corp, Qualcomm Inc and Intel Corp. More than 60,000 visitors registered to attend the trade show this year.
For Lai, the idea of technology is strongly connected to democratic values. In February 2025, Lai outlined for the first time his vision for a “non-Red supply chain” (非紅供應鏈) that could be established among democratic societies to maintain technological leadership across a range of strategic sectors—and thereby reduce China’s geoeconomic leverage.
It is more evident that Lai’s notion of technology is deeply linked to democratic promotion when considering his Five Trusted Industry Sectors Promotion Plan (五大信賴產業推動方案), announced in his inauguration speech on May 20, 2024. According to the National Development Council (国家发展委员会), the plan’s goal is to develop five key industries—semiconductors, artificial intelligence (AI), military, security and surveillance, and next-generation communications—to make Taiwan an indispensable and trusted technological partner of democracies around the world and, by advancing innovation-driven industrial development, create high-paying jobs and strengthen national security and resilience. In this way, Lai’s thinking on technology issues is more democracy-driven than environment-driven.
Even if Lai has proactively worked on mitigating climate change, his roles in advancing technologies are clearly opposed. In other words, Lai’s technology vision and strategy are moving in the opposite direction from his strong commitment to climate change. Without environmental-driven thinking in technologies, Lai’s National Climate Change Committee (國家氣候變遷對策委員會), established in 2024, will be impossible to achieve.
Lastly, not only will the democratic value, as Lai identified in the non-Red supply chain, bring about Taiwan’s trusted identity, but boosting Taiwan’s eco-friendly technologies also has the potential to become the core value of this island’s national identity in the future.
Taiwan’s Critical Yet Becoming More Eco-friendly Technologies at a Critical Moment
Joseph Jye-Cherng Lyu (呂桔誠), the Chairman of the Chinese International Economic Cooperation Association (CIECA), argued: “For Taiwan, the next phase of economic transformation may therefore depend not only on maintaining leadership in advanced technology manufacturing but also on whether it can build the financial capabilities necessary to support and shape the next generation of global industrial networks.” Still, the next phase of Taiwan’s economic transition should deepen the significance of sustainability as well. With its commitment to sustainability seen in the Basic Environment Act, the Environmental Impact Assessment Act, the RE100 initiative, and COP26, Taiwan’s technologies will lead to a more inclusive, powerful, and environmentally friendly national image toward the international community. Taken together, eco-friendly technologies will enhance Taiwan’s internationally trusted status, aligning with Lai’s promotion of the non-Red supply chain.
Acknowledgement: This article was developed from an idea derived from the panel session—In conversation with Martin Griffiths: How can a divided world address conflict? The speakers were Dr Patricia Lewis, Former Research Director; Former Director, International Security Programme, Chatham House; and Martin Griffiths, Former Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, United Nations.
Maytapat Pararaman is an independent scholar. He was formerly a lecturer of International Relations at Walailak University in Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand. He holds an MA in Japanese Studies from SOAS, where he participated in the 2022 SOAS Taiwan Studies Summer School.