Recently, the EPA announced the Guidelines for Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventory (溫室氣體排放量盤查作業指引) . The purpose is to help enterprises cope with future regulations regarding emissions by properly carrying out the most basic task in this field, which is to take inventory of their own carbon emissions. Based on different needs, enterprises are provided necessary measures to understand their own emissions and obtain data as reference to reducing emissions.

To date, 5,200 enterprises in over 130 countries have proposed goals and timetables to achieve net-zero emissions in response to climate change. As a result, the Guidelines were revised by the EPA to assist domestic industries to cope with requirements from global supply chains. While the version enacted in 2015 targeted large-scale emission sources, the latest version adds measures that aim to assist small and middle-sized enterprises to conduct inventory on their own.

 

Since July, the EPA began to work with local governments and held many meetings in different regions to explain the Guidelines. Ministry of Economic Affairs statistics show that over 100,000 small and middle-sized manufacturing enterprises in Taiwan will be required by both domestic and foreign supply chains to conduct inventory of their emissions. Meanwhile, residential, commercial, and service industries account for 10% of domestic carbon emission. As a result, the EPA will help large-scale department stores and retailers take inventory of their emissions in areas like power usage, shipping and logistics, waste disposal, etc, so that inventory data can be used as reference for carbon reduction and power conservation.

 

In response to growing needs for diverse audits of more emission sources, revision is currently underway to categorize audit organizations into different levels. It is expected to be completed within this year. After the sub-laws are formulated next year, audit organizations will be ready to provide audit services and help small and middle-sized enterprises take emission inventory. The following are major points concerning the latest Guidelines:

Chapter 1: Inventory of greenhouse gas emissions

Introducing emission inventory, the reasons for inventory, targets required to undertake inventory, relevant regulations, the basic procedures, and the audit results that are required to be verified, registered or disclosed.

Chapter 2: How inventory is conducted

Users can begin to conduct inventory based on individual needs. Since needed data and information are provided by different departments in a company, enterprises are recommended to hold a commencement meeting first led by senior management to ensure a smooth operation. Targeting small and medium-sized enterprises, this chapter introduces setting inventory scales, emission sources (the scope) that are to be included, and how to utilize tools on the EPA or MOEA's websites to calculate emission volumes. Since small and medium-sized enterprises required to take emission inventory are mostly in manufacturing and service industries, the examples in the chapter come from manufacturing, financial, and chain retail industries.

 

Chapter 3: EPA-announced inventory procedures for large-scale emission sources required to undergo inventory and registration

Enterprises of this type have been conducting inventories of carbon emissions for years and hence are familiar with the procedures.

 

The EPA noted that enterprises could reference the Guidelines for Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventory when conducting inventories themselves. For those required to conduct inventories by the EPA, by the Financial Supervisory Commission (under the Sustainable Development Pathway), or by their supply chains, the investigation results have to be verified by audit organizations. The Guidelines are now on the EPA’s Industrial Greenhouse Gas Emission Information Platform, and the EPA will soon hold meetings to explain everything about the inventory in order to assist manufacturers as well as residential, commercial, and service industries.

Excerpt from Major Environmental Policies, July 2022

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