Taiwan Smart Net-Zero Building Industry Alliance Officially Launched: Government, Industry, Academia and Research Join Forces to Advance 2050 Net-Zero Building Goal

(CNA Business Wire)

President Tsai Ing-wen has repeatedly reaffirmed Taiwan's goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. To help drive this transition, the Taiwan Smart Net-Zero Building Industry Alliance was conceived by Secretary-General to the President Lin Chia-lung and initiated by Minister of the Interior Lin Yu-chang. The initiative aims to support Taiwan's 2050 net-zero building target, under which 100 per cent of new buildings are expected to meet the target and more than 85 per cent of existing buildings are to be transformed into near-zero-carbon buildings. Through collaboration between government agencies and industry, the Alliance aims to identify practical pathways towards achieving these goals.

Lin Chia-lung said the inaugural meeting marked a strong start, bringing together smart-city applications, technologies from different fields and businesses. He expressed the hope that cross-sector leaders would participate and work together as a national team to upgrade supply chains across the board.

Lin Yu-chang, who also initiated the establishment of the Taiwan Smart Net-Zero Building Industry Alliance, said the Executive Yuan had approved Taiwan's overall 2050 net-zero emissions pathway and strategy earlier that year. The national policy seeks to guide the public and private sectors towards the sustainable goal of net-zero emissions by 2050 through four major transition strategies — energy, industry, lifestyle and society — together with 12 key strategies. 

Lin stressed that the Ministry of the Interior is responsible for areas including urban planning, national spatial planning, buildings and housing, but acknowledged that previous policymaking had lacked an industrial perspective. He said the national net-zero emissions policy should be translated into industrial development, creating a new strategy that both improves people's lives and promotes economic growth.

He welcomed the establishment of the Alliance, which had attracted 195 members, and said he hoped the platform would help identify practical and workable solutions, remove barriers involving policy, regulations and standards, and advance the development of smart net-zero buildings across sectors including building materials, energy and home appliances. He said he believed tangible results would soon follow. 

Weili Hsueh, Chairman of JOIN IT Sustainable Tech. CO., and a supervisor on the Alliance's inaugural board, said there had long been a lack of direct communication mechanisms between private-sector industries and the government. As a result, issues raised from the bottom up could often be delayed as they passed through different levels of communication.

Hsueh cited the Taipei City Government's subsidy programme for energy generation, energy storage and energy efficiency as an example. While the programme was being promoted by the city's environmental authorities, regulations governing the indoor installation of energy-storage equipment still required the National Fire Agency, Ministry of the Interior to establish rules that better reflected market conditions while ensuring safety. 

He said the establishment of the Alliance should make communication more efficient while accelerating Taiwan's efforts to achieve its 2050 net-zero and sustainability goals.

Recently, Gaia Sustainable Farm, which works with JOIN IT Sustainable Tech. CO., was interviewed by CNN, where it shared technological advances in organic agriculture. The farm became Taiwan's first UN-certified carbon-neutral, zero-carbon farm and said it would continue working with JOIN IT Sustainable Tech. CO., on new-energy systems featuring coloured solar panels, as the two sides work towards the United Nations' 2050 net-zero goal and demonstrate Taiwan's determination to advance net-zero and sustainable development.