Low Carbon Initiative - Healthcare Committee

Joint Lunch

Following Immediately After The LCI's Mid-Year Meeting

Tackling Taiwan's Air Pollution

Guest of Honour
Shen Chih-hsiu, Deputy Minister, Environmental Protection Administration
環保署 沈志修副署長

Guest Speakers
Wu Sheng-chung, Director-General, Air Quality Protection and Noise Quality Control Department, EPA
環保署空保處 吳盛忠處長

Lin Yuan-chung, Director-General, Environmental Protection Bureau (EPB), Tainan City Government
台南市政府環保局 林淵淙局長

Tseng Po-chang, Section Chief, Community Health Division, Health Promotion Administration (HPA), Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW)
衛福部國民健康署社區健康組 曾伯昌科長

12:00 – 14:00, Wednesday, 5 June 2019
Venue: The Residence, Grand Hyatt Taipei / 台北君悅大飯店 凱寓
Address: 2F, 2 Song Shou Road, Xin Yi District, Taipei / 台北市信義區松壽路2號二樓

To tackle Taiwan's air pollution, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) in September 2019 will launch Euro 6 Emission Standard. This Regulation will set tighter emission limits of atmospheric pollutants such as particulates and nitrogen oxide for vehicles sold in the Taiwan market. In addition, the EPA has planned to promote the ultra low emission vehicle (ULEV) that uses low carbon technologies, alternative fuels, and emits less than 75g of CO2/km from the tailpipe.  In Tainan, 180 electric buses will be soon introduced to the city. According to the WHO, 4.2 million deaths occur every year due to exposure to outdoor air pollution and 91% of the world’s population lives in places where air quality exceeds healthy guideline limits. Given rising awareness of the dangers of air pollution to human health, authorities in both the central and local governments are taking action to reduce the sources of air pollution. At this event, the EPA Deputy Minister Shen 環保署沈副署長 and Director General Wu of EPA Air Quality Control Dept. 空保處吳處長 will give an update on actions underway to improve air quality such as implementing Euro 6 Emission Standard and promoting ULEVs. Furthermore, Director General Lin from Tainan City Government Environmental Protection Bureau 台南市環保局林局長 will give an introduction to Tainan’s E-bus project and Circular Economy Park.

Air quality in Taipei generally falls within global standards for developed countries, with an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 100 or less on a 500-point scale. In the colour coding of the system, it routinely measures as green (good, below 50) or yellow (50-100, within a healthy range). However, along Taiwan’s western plain, as far north as Taoyuan and even parts of New Taipei City, the level of pollution is often a serious problem, falling into the red zone (above 150) while air quality in central and southern Taiwan often registers in the red zone. This is due to the concentration of heavily-polluting power stations and industry the further south in Taiwan one travels.

In particular, Taichung is home to one of the world’s largest coal-fired power plants and largest emitters of carbon dioxide, leading to frequent protests by the city’s residents and tension between municipal and central authorities about what to do about it while Kaohsiung and Tainan are home to some of Taiwan’s largest polluting industries. Meanwhile the slow pace of phasing out highly polluting vehicles is exacerbating air pollution on city roads and national highways. 

Small particle (PM2.5) pollution is able to penetrate the respiratory system and is implicated in heart disease, lung and liver cancer, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, more commonly known as emphysema, along with aggravating conditions such as asthma. According to the EPA, the level of PM2.5 declined by 17% between 2013 and 2016 in Taiwan. However, with values higher than 15 micrograms/cubic meter (mcg/m3), it remains above Taiwan’s own and global standards.

About the guest of honour

Shen Chih-hsiu 環保署沈志修副署長 is the Deputy Minister of the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA). He began his career as a Senior Research Fellow and later Deputy Director of the EPA’s National Institute of Environmental Analysis and went on to become Section Chief, Senior Technical Specialist and Deputy Director of the EPA. He later served as Director-General of the Department of Environmental Protection for the Taoyuan City Government before he assumed his current position as Deputy Minister of the EPA. He has a PhD in environmental engineering from National Taiwan University.

About the speakers

Mr. Wu Sheng-chung 環保署空保處 吳盛忠處長 is the Director-General of the EPA’s Air Quality Protection and Noise Quality Control Department. Prior to his current position, he held a number of positions in the EPA and the Taipei City Government. For the EPA, he was previously Head of the Bureau of Environmental Inspection, the Director-General of the Waste Management Department and Deputy Director-General of the Environmental Analysis Laboratory. For the Taipei City Government, he previously served as Deputy Commissioner and Commissioner of the Environmental Protection Department.

Dr Lin Yuan-chung 台南市政府環保局 林淵淙局長 is the Director-General of the Tainan City Government’s Environmental Protection Bureau. Prior to his current position he has held many prestigious posts in academia and industry associations. Most recently he was Director of the Institute of Environmental Engineering and Distinguished Professor at National Sun Yat-Sen University. At Sun Yat-Sen University he was previously Associate Vice President for General Affairs, Director of the Environmental Protection & Safety Center and Director of the Center for Emerging Contaminants Research. He holds a PhD in Environmental Engineering from National Cheng Kung University.

Mr. Tseng Po-chang 衛福部國民健康署社區健康組 曾伯昌科長 serves as the Section Chief of the Community Health Division in the Health Promotion Administration (HPA), under the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW). Prior to his current position, he was the Chief of Facilities Management and Inspections Section in the Environmental Protection Bureau in Yilan County.  

The speech will be presented in Mandarin with English translation.
NT$1,850 for members; NT$2,400 for non-members and guest(s)
Contact: Cindy Ke / Tel: 2740-0236 ext. 229 / cindy.ke@ecct.com.tw
To cancel without penalty, written cancellations must be received 24 hours prior to the event.