Taiwan has formally entered the era of priced carbon emissions. On July 14, the Ministry of Environment published the "Subsidy Regulations for Greenhouse Gas Reduction Technologies and Climate Change Adaptation," a 15-article framework that took effect immediately. Carbon fees collected this year have reached NT$4.97 billion, all of which has been placed into the Greenhouse Gas Management Fund. For each approved case, the subsidy ceiling is set at 50% of total project costs, with the remaining half to be paid by the applicant.
Who can apply and what the subsidies cover
According to the report, the ministry drafted the rules after consulting central government agencies, industry associations, civic groups, and local governments. Eligible applicants include companies, businesses, factories, private organizations, administrative agencies, public and private universities, and academic research institutions.
The subsidies are focused on six areas: switching to low-carbon or zero-carbon fuels and industrial processes, energy-efficiency measures, carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS), negative-emission technologies, responses to the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), and research and development involving innovative emissions-reduction and climate-adaptation technologies.
There are exclusions. Projects that fall under statutory obligations will not qualify, including emissions inventory reporting and registration, the scope of approved self-reduction plans for entities already subject to carbon-fee collection, offset requirements tied to incremental emissions, and mandatory carbon-footprint items. Supported projects must also undergo performance assessments, and related information will be disclosed quarterly on the ministry’s website.
First-round carbon fees came from 240 companies
The first round of carbon-fee payments came from 461 emission sources across 240 companies. The semiconductor sector paid NT$2.2 billion, the highest among all industries mentioned in the report.
The subsidy rules come with a budget of about NT$2 billion. Another NT$500 million has been paired with the program for credit guarantees and interest subsidies linked to carbon-fee financing, with the stated aim of lowering the financing threshold for small and medium-sized enterprises pursuing transition projects.
Carbon-credit tokenization is being tested globally
The report says the new subsidy framework still deals mainly with traditional energy-saving and emissions-reduction projects. It does not yet extend to another route that has been drawing more attention internationally in recent years: tokenized carbon credits.
PwC estimates the global carbon market could reach $100 billion by 2030. Separately, rwa.xyz data cited in the report shows tokenized real-world assets had grown to more than $30 billion by the first quarter of 2026, spanning six major categories. US Treasuries and private credit remain the two largest segments, while tokenized carbon credits are described as catching up quickly.
The basic case for moving carbon credits on-chain is straightforward. Smart contracts and blockchain records can be used to reduce repeated counting of the same unit and lower the risk of fraudulent resales, while also improving settlement speed and transaction costs.
Examples in the report include Brazil, where Banco do Brasil and state development bank BNDES launched a regulated carbon exchange in early 2026. That platform allows agricultural producers to use carbon credits as collateral when applying for bank financing.
Microsoft and Google are cited as taking the concept a step further by using "24/7 carbon-free energy" tokens. The model maps hourly electricity consumption to hourly carbon-removal records, making carbon-neutral accounting more granular than annual aggregate matching.
Taiwan has already seen early carbon trading and token attempts
The report also looks back at Taiwan’s first batch of carbon-credit trading in 2023, when 27 companies including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and Cathay Financial Holdings bought a combined 88,000 tons of CO2.
At around the same time, MaiCoin Group attempted to use Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission STO framework to issue a "carbon rights token" with a planned size of NT$30 million, though the report says follow-up progress was limited.