‘HUMANITY AT CROSSROADS’:Hans Schellnhuber said Germany is an example for Taiwan of how to transition from coal and nuclear power to renewable energy sources
To combat global warming and greenhouse gas emissions, developing renewable energy is the only way to reduce the exploitation of fossil fuel and phase out nuclear energy, visiting Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research director Hans Schellnhuber said that.
Schellnhuber, a joint recipient of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize along with former US vice president Al Gore, made the remarks in two speeches in Taipei, on Thursday and yesterday.
During a symposium titled “Humanity at the Crossroads” in Taipei on Thursday, Schellnhuber said: “The debate of whether global warming is manmade is over. The question is what we do about it.”
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Schellnhuber added that although Germany’s carbon emissions rose when the nation started to decommission its nuclear power plants, the emissions later decreased when a renewable energy power grid was developed, and now the county’s power industry has a 50 percent oversupply.
That nuclear energy could guarantee the energy security is a misconception, and all we need is time to transition from nuclear and coal-fired energy to renewable energy, he said. Meanwhile, the Executive Yuan put forward an intended nationally determined contribution (INDC) on Thursday, specifying that Taiwan would reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by 2030.
Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) Minister Wei Kuo-yen (魏國彥) said the INDC was based on the scenario that three of the nation’s active nuclear plants would be decommissioned and the now-mothballed nuclear power plant be activated.
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