TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A draft passed the third legislative reading on Tuesday (May 9) for the establishment of a ministry of the environment as Taiwan works to better address climate challenges.

This is part of the Cabinet’s restructuring campaign launched last year. Currently, relevant issues are tackled by the Environment Protection Administration, and the move signals a broader approach to dealing with environmental problems.

The Ministry of the Environment will encompass five departments and four agencies, covering aspects from climate change mitigation to pollution control, resource recycling, greenhouse gas reduction, chemical management, and environmental governance, per CNA. An institute will also be set up for the research, testing, and identification of environment-related issues.

The ministry is expected to be inaugurated by the end of this year.

Last month, the government marked Earth Day by opening a preparatory office for the Climate Change Administration, which will be under the auspices of the new environment ministry. Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) said then that Taiwan needed to carve out a path towards a more resilient society against climate impacts.

The Tsai administration declared last March an ambition to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, having boosted electricity generated from wind and solar power to a combined 7.7% of the total by December 2022, wrote a Global Views Monthly report. The article cited a climate expert as saying that the country needs to ramp up its development of renewables, and green hydrogen can be a source worth investing in.

According to the state-owned Taiwan Power Company, green energy accounted for 8.6% of the total output in 2022.