Industries in Taiwan are seeing challenges and opportunities

The U.S. federal agency said it was classifying six greenhouse gases — carbon dioxide along with methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride — as public health threats under the U.S. Clean Air Act.

The move is seen to have wide-ranging and global impact on the manufacturing industries around the world, including those in Taiwan that rely heavily on exports.

Companies of in various industries and investment analysts in Taiwan showed mixed reactions while environmental protection organizations applauded the U.S. move.

Officials at the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) in Taipei said a greenhouse gas control act to serve as a legal basis for facilitating efforts to curb carbon dioxide emissions was already forwarded to the Legislative Yuan.

They urged the lawmakers to deliberate and pass the act as early as possible to help enterprises cope with new environmental trend in government policies and possible dramatic transformation of the international market.

Steel, petrochemical, automobiles and other industries manufacturing products like printed circuit boards are among those to sustain the strongest impact.

Executives at China Steel Corp. acknowledged that limiting the CO2 emissions will certain affect the steel industry considerably.

But they said CSC and its affiliated enterprises will abide by the rules in the greenhouse gas control act after it clears the Legislative Yuan.

An official at the association of the petrochemical industry expressed the hope that the new rules would not be enforced hastily so that companies will have sufficient time to adopt new technologies with more advanced equipment.

PCB companies said it is good to help deal with the climate change problems, but they will face inevitable rises in operating costs.

They urged the government to provide companies with technological and financial assistance to cope with the new situation.

Semiconductor companies said most of them presently do not generate much of the greenhouse gases specified by the U.S. EPA because they use mainly the latest producing facilities.

Executives in the auto industry said the current exhaust emission standards imposed by the government in Taiwan are already among the most stringent in the world.

This is one of the major reasons that even the prices of scooters and motorcycles have remained high as the new shipments are required to be fitted with the most advanced engines.

But some of them said the global trend of promoting green products will also create significant new business opportunities since half of the around 7 million vehicles still running in Taiwan should be replaced by cleaner models with more energy-saving efficiency.

Auto suppliers have shifted to policies of producing and importing more environmental friendly cars to meet the demands from the growing number of environmental conscious customers.

Securities analysts said the new international trend will also help spur the accelerated development of industries like alternative energy equipment, devices for energy saving and environmental protection, and construction materials for green buildings as well as industries like info technology (IT), biotechnology, and medical services.

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