Experts stressed that industry and public acceptance is critical to the success of carbon pricing. (Photo: Center for Carbon Research and Solutions, National Sun Yat-Sen University)
Taiwan began implementing a nationwide carbon fee in 2025, marking the island’s first formal step into carbon pricing, with an emissions trading system (ETS) expected to follow later in the decade. While the policy architecture is taking shape, regulators increasingly acknowledge that the biggest challenge is not technical design, but political acceptance.
At a webinar titled “Addressing Taiwan’s ETS Core Challenges through International Experiences,” hosted by National Sun Yat-Sen University on Dec. 18, speakers from Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan highlighted that the success of carbon pricing depends less on how ambitious a system looks on paper, and more on whether industry and society are willing to accept it.
Why Taiwan is starting with a carbon fee, not an ETS
Taiwan’s decision to begin with a carbon fee, rather than an ETS, reflects a deliberate attempt to manage political and industrial risks. Compared with a trading system, a fee-based approach is simpler to administer, more predictable in cost, and easier for companies to absorb. It also allows policymakers to sidestep, at least initially, the challenges of building a liquid carbon market, managing price volatility, and setting credible caps before emissions data and monitoring systems are fully tested.
