The 26th Taiwan-Australia Joint Energy and Minerals, Trade and Investment Cooperation Consultations (JEMTIC) Sharing Strategic Deployments of Net Zero Emissions and Facilitating Bilateral Cooperation

The 26th Taiwan-Australia Joint Energy and Minerals, Trade and Investment Cooperation Consultations was once again held via video-conferencing in the morning of September 7, 2021. The ROC delegation was led by Tseng Wen-sheng, Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs, and the Australian delegation was led by Deputy Secretary Sean Sullivan of Department of Industry, Science, Energy, and Resources. The consultations were jointly chaired by Director-General Yu Cheng-wei of the Bureau of Energy, MOEA, and General Manager David Lawrence and General Manager Martin Squire of the Department of Industry Science, Energy, and Resources. A total of 17 officials and experts in the area of energy and minerals from both countries reported in the meeting, and a total of 73 attendees from the industry, government, and academia, participated in the video conference.

During the meeting, Deputy Minister Tseng Wen-sheng pointed out that, Australia has always been Taiwan’s main supplier of energy and minerals resources, and has significantly helped Taiwan ensure its energy security. Australia is one of Taiwan’s most indispensable and reliable partners. Both parties still met by video conference and discussed the future of bilateral cooperation in energy and minerals despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. It shows that both countries value the partnership. Deputy Secretary Sean Sullivan recognized JEMTIC as the most important high-level dialogue on energy and minerals between the two parties. It helps stabilize and expand the cooperative ties between Taiwan and Australia in energy and minerals.

According to Ministry of Economic Affairs, countries around the world should enhance cooperation in response to climate change and implement more ambitious climate actions. Taiwan began discussions in 2020, and has evaluated and planned the strategic roadmap to achieve the target of net-zero emissions by 2050. Australia is also concerned about the economic issues of carbon neutrality, and strives for the development of low-carbon emissions technology in response to challenges of climate change. There are great potentials for the two parties to cooperate in this area. Through information exchange in the political, technological, and industrial aspects during the meeting, both countries evaluated feasible models to be established for the low-carbon partnership between Taiwan and Australia.

This year’s meeting focused the discussion on the three key energy and minerals topics that are most critical for the two countries, including energy policy, clean and renewable energy promotion, and cooperation in resources. In addition to continuing the discussions on the issues faced by both countries in the process of energy transition, such as renewable energy, grid integration, and energy efficiency, and updates on policies and progress in both countries, the meeting this year also focused on strengthening responses to challenges of climate change, potential low-carbon emissions technology and hydrogen energy strategy for attaining the target of net-zero emissions by 2050. The two countries conducted in-depth exchange on current development and future plans for hydrogen energy. The Australian delegation shared information on its hydrogen energy development and the progress of international collaborative experiments. Taiwan made proposals of cooperation for green hydrogen and HBI produced by green hydrogen, and the establishment of paths for hydrogen production, transportation, and applications with the aim of reducing emissions in the power industry and assessing the feasibility of expanding the cooperation between Taiwan and Australia in hydrogen energy. Both parties also exchanged ideas on the prospects of traditional energy and minerals resources and critical minerals with the aim of strengthening the bilateral partnership for energy security as well as long-term and stable cooperation in energy, minerals, and trade.

First held in 1993, this year marked the 26th edition of JEMTIC. The two countries sign the Taiwan-Australia strategic partnership action plan each year to focus on actual cooperation and regularly track and review the progress. In the future, both Taiwan and Australia will continue to explore new opportunities for cooperation, forge consensus through the platform, and convert them into specific proposals and plans of cooperation to facilitate the deployment and cooperation of bilateral development of energy and minerals for attaining net zero emissions.

Sources: Ministry of Economic Affairs