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Carbon fee and climate governance delayism in Taiwan

Author

Listed:
  • Kuei-Tien Chou

    (National Taiwan University)

  • David Walther

    (National Taiwan University)

  • Mu-Xing Lin

    (National Taiwan University)

  • Hwa-Meei Liou

    (National Taiwan University of Science and Technology)

Abstract

After three unsuccessful attempts to implement an energy tax, Taiwan introduced a carbon fee system through an amendment to the Greenhouse Gas Reduction and Management Act at the end of 2020, opening a fourth window of opportunity for carbon pricing. However, this limited carbon fee illustrates that Taiwan has taken only a tiny step forward in climate governance and highlights its lock-in, high-carbon economic path. This seems infeasible without the exogenous pressure of the European Union’s Carbon Boundary Adjustment Mechanism. Compared with East Asia’s carbon-intensive industries in Korea, China, and Japan, Taiwan lags significantly in promoting carbon pricing. This study focuses on Taiwan’s carbon fee decision-making mechanisms, democratic processes, and structural constraints within a high-carbon economy as viewed through developmental environmentalism in the East Asian climate governance literature. This study further explores how the predicament of green transformation in high-carbon-emitting developing countries takes shape, including their climate policies, value, and industrial path dependence, and especially their authoritarian and recentralized bureaucratic decision-making mode, to explain the delay in the transformation. By examining Taiwan’s initial carbon fee decision-making, this study attempts to reinterpret developmental environmentalism, shedding light on the structural predicament arising from the internationally compulsory green transformation faced by all high-carbon-emitting manufacturing countries in Asia and globally.

Suggested Citation

  • Kuei-Tien Chou & David Walther & Mu-Xing Lin & Hwa-Meei Liou, 2025. "Carbon fee and climate governance delayism in Taiwan," Review of Evolutionary Political Economy, Springer, vol. 6(1), pages 1-42, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:revepe:v:6:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1007_s43253-024-00118-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s43253-024-00118-0
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Batrancea Larissa & Rathnaswamy Malar Maran & Batrancea Ioan & Nichita Anca & Rus Mircea-Iosif & Tulai Horia & Fatacean Gheorghe & Masca Ema Speranta & Morar Ioan Dan, 2020. "Adjusted Net Savings of CEE and Baltic Nations in the Context of Sustainable Economic Growth: A Panel Data Analysis," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-17, October.
    2. Marcello Nieddu & Filippo Bertani & Linda Ponta, 2022. "The sustainability transition and the digital transformation: two challenges for agent-based macroeconomic models," Review of Evolutionary Political Economy, Springer, vol. 3(1), pages 193-226, April.
    3. Edward B. Barbier, 2020. "Greening the Post-pandemic Recovery in the G20," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 76(4), pages 685-703, August.
    4. Kuei-Tien Chou & Hwa-Meei Liou, 2023. "Carbon Tax in Taiwan: Path Dependence and the High-Carbon Regime," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-22, January.
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