Evaluation of Environmental Impacts: The Financial Obligations of Compliance
In Taiwan, the Soil and Groundwater Pollution Remediation Act requires enterprises to submit soil pollution assessment investigation and test data when applying for a business license or changing ownership. This measure aims to ensure that industrial activities do not contaminate the soil, as industrial pollutants are seldom spread uniformly across a site, making it possible to miss significant contamination during testing.
However, concerns about soil pollution caused by industrial activities do not seem to be widely publicized, with no publicly available information specifying which industrialists in Taiwan have spoken out about this issue.
On a positive note, Taiwan is making strides in other environmental areas. For instance, the government is encouraging the use of biodiesel to mitigate climate change, enhance energy security, and boost agriculture. Yet, Taiwan's biofuels policy, like many, is not without its flaws. The policy was designed around domestically grown crops and recycled cooking oil, but it also has poorly designed policies that have caused ecological issues elsewhere, such as the over-reliance on palm oil imports for biodiesel production, which has led to catastrophic ecological damage in Southeast Asia.
The EU began promoting biodiesel in 2003, but in a bid to rectify past mistakes, the EU Parliament passed a law in November 2018 to phase out biofuels made from corn, palm oil, soy, and sugarcane.
In the realm of labor policies, Taiwan's regulations stipulate that employees should not work more than 12 hours in a single day and overtime should not exceed 46 hours per month. Changing Taiwan's labor law has prompted some factories to switch from a 12-hour shift pattern to an 8-hour system.
Steven Crook, the author of four books about Taiwan, has been following environmental issues since he arrived in the country in 1991. He drives a hybrid and carries his own chopsticks, setting an example for environmental consciousness.
In an effort to reduce carbon emissions associated with transportation, implementing a four-day workweek and incentivizing companies to let their employees work from home are possibilities under consideration.
In the urban landscape of Taipei, issues related to sustainable transportation arise. Bicycles are banned from Taipei's parks, and the authorities wouldn't give permission for bike storage near the library due to this rule. Despite this, 43.7 percent of respondents had used a motorcycle the day before they were surveyed, while 26.6 percent had traveled by car.
The Taipei Public Library Beitou Branch does not have bike racks that meet LEED sustainable-architecture certification standards, highlighting a missed opportunity for promoting eco-friendly practices in public spaces.
One poorly designed policy was the insistence that at least 60 percent of the components used in wind-farm projects be procured locally, which was found to be problematic and choked offshore wind.
Lastly, the Ministry of Labor conducts inspections more frequently than before to ensure labor standards are met, a positive step towards improving working conditions in Taiwan.
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