Carbon inventory estimates an increase of 491 businesses registering electricity and fuel consumption

The Ministry of the Environment recently announced a draft to expand the scope of entities required to conduct inventory and registration. After holding a discussion meeting today, it stated that categories including the service industry, transportation industry, and manufacturing industry will be included, estimating an increase of 491 businesses that should register based on electricity consumption and fuel usage, with guidelines to be completed by the end of June.

On January 9, the Ministry of the Environment announced the draft "Sources of Greenhouse Gas Emissions that Businesses Should Inventory and Register," expanding the scope of entities required to conduct inventory and registration. A draft discussion meeting was held today to communicate with businesses, and there is no need for verification at this stage, with carbon fees exempted for now.

According to a briefing by the Climate Change Department of the Ministry of the Environment, the legal basis for the draft is Article 21, Paragraph 1 of the "Climate Change Response Act." The estimated number of entities to be included in the draft is about 491, which could account for approximately 10.68 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions. Starting from the 115th year of the Republic, businesses should conduct inventory and registration of greenhouse gas emissions according to the regulations and complete the inventory and registration of the previous year's emissions by April 30 each year.

The Ministry of the Environment currently estimates 170 businesses in the service industry, including 6 in information services, 46 department stores/shopping centers, 5 hypermarkets, 23 medical centers, 50 colleges and universities, 20 hotels, 3 telecommunications companies, 6 chain convenience stores, and 11 supermarkets.

In the transportation industry, there are 41 businesses, including 2 railways, 5 metro transport, and 34 in road passenger transport and freight. The manufacturing industry, which is not included in the announcement of "Sources of Greenhouse Gas Emissions that Businesses Should Inventory and Register," is estimated to have 280 businesses.

Cai Lingyi, Director of the Climate Change Department, explained that the entities to be inventoried and registered this time will include the service industry, transportation industry, etc. For example, hotels with an annual electricity consumption of over 10 million kWh must conduct inventory, which includes not only the electricity bill but also fuels such as natural gas and oil used in hotel boilers.

Some transportation operators have expressed doubts about the inclusion of their operations in the inventory scope. Cai Lingyi stated that some units have reported that vehicle registration may change at different times within a year. The Ministry of the Environment may supplement the regulations to specify that if the number of vehicles reaches 200 in a certain month, they will be subject to inventory, but those relying on the road will not be included in the calculation.

Regarding whether the use of green electricity counts, Cai Lingyi said that currently, small and medium-sized enterprises do not use much green electricity, so the threshold will still be based on actual electricity consumption without differentiation for now. Perhaps after a few years of inventory, adjustments may be considered. The estimated list of businesses was derived from past electricity usage data provided by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, and it may not be very precise due to possible changes or new data in the 114th year.

In addition, Cai Lingyi stated that the Ministry of the Environment will produce guidelines by the end of June this year, primarily focusing on the service and transportation industries, and will further simplify and optimize the registration platform. At that time, the competent authorities will be asked to verify that businesses meeting the announced scale but failing to conduct inventory and registration or providing false registration will be given a deadline for correction. If not improved by the deadline, fines ranging from NT$100,000 to NT$1,000,000 will be imposed