Tainan City takes an active stance in dealing with the impacts brought forth by extreme weather. Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che signed the Tainan Climate Emergency Declaration at Anping Fort on May 11, with Greenpeace as witness. With 10 sustainable development goals and 52 sub-goals, the declaration proposes a 2030 sustainable development vision which includes reaching a renewable energy capacity of 4.5 GW, switching all city buses to electric vehicles, and reducing more than 20% of the volume of greenhouse gases emitted in 2005. The declaration also set a goal of moving towards net zero carbon emissions in 2050.
Mayor Huang Wei-che pointed out that the recent scorching temperatures and lack of rainfall are all because of climate change, so he is very happy to sign the climate emergency declaration today and contribute to protecting the environment. He said that Tainan is currently promoting eco-friendly solar energy and in the future, both residential and commercial electricity consumption can be fully supplied by green energy. The Mayor asked the public to form energy-saving habits and work together to save the planet.
Tainan City has been continuously promoting renewable energy in the past years. Leveraging the abundant local sunshine, Tainan is the first city to initiate a Solar City Project. The government assisted in arranging usable spaces at factories, communities, landfills, and farmhouses for solar panel installation and reached an installed capacity of 2 GW in 2020. The city government promises to set up 4.5 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030 and it is estimated that by then Tainan would be able to generate up to 6.57 billion kWh.
As for electric buses, the government will assist and subsidize operators to switch their buses that are approaching decommission years to electric vehicles. Starting from 2020, at least 30 vehicles will be replaced each year. The city government also promised that to realize the city’s low-carbon sustainable green transportation goals, all buses in Tainan City will run on electricity by 2030.
To cut down greenhouse gas emissions, Tainan continues to promote industrial energy transformation, encourage plants to decrease raw coal use, and boost resource recycling. The city’s greenhouse gas emissions have dropped from 2,687 metric tons in 2010 to 2,104 metric tons in 2019. The government aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions down to less than 15.61 million metric tons by 2030 and move towards the net zero carbon emission goal in 2050.