I) Protect the Right to a Clean, Healthy, and Sustainable Environment

emissions by 2050 to the world. To achieve the goal, climate policies are required to incorporate human rights principles and, follow universal human rights values and, international standards.

(I) Protect the Right to a Clean, Healthy, and Sustainable Environment

The Greenhouse Gas Reduction and Management Act (hereafter referred to as the Greenhouse Gas Management Act) was promulgated by Presidential Order in Taiwan in 2015. Taiwan also announced its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) in step with other countries around the world to incorporate greenhouse gas reduction into the national development vision and continue to respond to the temperature goal set out in the Paris Agreement. The Greenhouse Gas Management Act was formulated and amended to update or strengthen the 2030 greenhouse gas reduction target and to specify actions of key departments. The Act also facilitates the planning process and the development of policies, steering a pathway to net-zero 2050 and implements actions to mitigate climate change and prevent the negative impacts of climate change.

In terms of climate actions regarding the establishment of society’s ability to adapt, the National Climate Change Action Guidelines formulated in accordance with Article 9, Paragraph 1 of the Greenhouse Gas Management Act. The Guidelines referred to the UNFCCC, the Paris Agreement, and the UN SDGs to draft overall policies for greenhouse gas reduction and climate change adaptation while integrating climate-related human rights principles based on Taiwan’s own conditions and characteristics.

Taiwan is pressing ahead with the National Climate Change Adaptation Action Plan, focusing on eight major fields, to build social, economic and environmental resilience and to ensure that all human beings have the necessary capacity to adapt to climate change. The eight fields are disaster risk management; climate adaptation capacities of life-sustaining infrastructure; balancing water supply and demand; appropriate use of land and resources in land planning; marine and coastal adaptation; energy supply and industrial stability; agricultural production; ecosystem stability; and health. Through various actions, Taiwan responds to many aspects of the UN SDGs including promoting sustainable agriculture, ensuring sustainable water resources, ensuring sustainable modern energy, building resilient infrastructure, and taking measures to address climate change in order to build links and strengthen Taiwan’s human rights foundation, to better deal with climate change.

Rising sea levels, extreme weather events, and droughts caused by climate change have already affected the human rights situations of many people who should have access to judicial and other meaningful remedies. In particular, there should be necessary regulations and response measures to address the disproportionate risk that extreme weather events pose to certain individuals or groups (e.g., indigenous peoples, the elderly, persons with disabilities, and farmers whose livelihoods are often impacted by climate disasters).

Taiwan established agricultural disaster insurance and remedy mechanisms to provide farmers with practical and effective remedies. Meanwhile, on the basis of planned climate actions, Taiwan will also consolidate existing regulatory tools, and examine and improve the completeness of relevant laws and regulations in terms of their efficacy in providing judicial remedy channels to the aforementioned disaster-prone or vulnerable groups.

Also, Taiwan enacted the Green Finance Action Plan 2.0, which seeks to promote public and private cooperation to construct a sustainable financial ecosystem, effectively disclose information to facilitate appropriate corporate decision-making, drive the financial industry to respond to climate change risks and grasp business opportunities, and use market mechanisms to guide the economy towards sustainable development. The plan also seeks to mobilize additional resources for green, sustainable and human rights-based development.

No. Action Competent Authority Timetable Key Performance Indicator

123 Formulate the

Greenhouse Gas

Management Act to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change on the population.

Environmental Protection Agency Ministry of Economic Affairs Ministry of the Interior Ministry of Transportation and Communications Council of Agriculture Ministry of Science and Technology 2021-2024 1. Expand communication with the public throughout the process of revising the Greenhouse Gas Management Act to incorporate human rights protection issues such as balancing intergenerational obligations, gender equality, rights of vulnerable groups, and civic

No. Action Competent Authority Timetable Key Performance Indicator

124 Continue to promote the National Climate

Change Adaptation

Action Plan to build overall economic, social and environmental resilience, and to ensure that all human beings have the

participation/litigation into the government’s relevant laws, policy planning and management principles, so as to build consensus on revisions to the law. 2. Develop guidelines for integrating human rights factors into the

Nationally Determined

Contribution (NDC). 3. In accordance with the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, review, update or strengthen the 2030 greenhouse gas reduction targets and specific actions of key departments, and draw up the development direction and roadmap for net-zero emissions by 2050.

Environmental Protection Agency, Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Transportation and Communications, Ministry of Economic Affairs Ministry of the 2021-2024 1. Formulate an operation guide for the National Climate Change Adaptation Action Plan that incorporates human rights factors (e.g., the needs of climate refugees, indigenous peoples, and other more vulnerable groups).

No. Action Competent Authority Timetable Key Performance Indicator

necessarycapacity to adapt to climate change. Interior, Council of Agriculture, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Council of Indigenous Peoples 2. Take stock of existing regulatory tools, focusing on disaster-prone or vulnerable groups (e.g., farmers, indigenous peoples, the elderly, and persons with disabilities).

Provide comprehensive judicial remedy channels and improve relevant legal systems.

3. Disclose measures and results of the action plan in the eight major fields to improve policy transparency.

125 Promote a sustainable financial ecosystem and mobilize investments in green and sustainable development with the

Green Finance

Action Plan 2.0. Financial Supervisory Commission 2021-2022 1. Mobilize investments to support green and sustainable development: Establish the scope of sustainable finance, review and discuss the green bond issuance structure and management mechanism.

2. Encourage financial institutions to grant credit and invest in green industries and sustainable development through market mechanisms and supporting measures.