HomeEnglish newsNew Taipei City Honored to Receive Korea’s “WSCE 2024 Awards in Foreign City Category,” A New Solution for Achieving Net Zero Carbon Reduction
New Taipei City Honored to Receive Korea’s “WSCE 2024 Awards in Foreign City Category,” A New Solution for Achieving Net Zero Carbon Reduction
The New Taipei City Government attended the “World Smart City Expo (WSCE) 2024 Awards Ceremony” in Korea on September 4th. The city has been continuously leveraging information technology and digital tools to improve the lives of its citizens. Through the “NewTaiPAY-New Taipei Mobile Payment App,” which focuses on carbon reduction, sustainability, and public welfare, it provides carbon footprint calculations and rewards to motivate citizen’s participation in energy conservation and carbon reduction. Responding to global climate action, New Taipei City competed against global contenders and emerged victorious, winning the “Foreign City Award,” it became the only government agency in Taiwan to receive this award, fully demonstrating international recognition for New Taipei City’s expertise in smart sustainability.
The World Smart City Expo (WSCE) Korea is Asia’s largest smart city event, aimed at exploring innovative technologies to address urban challenges such as digital transformation and the climate crisis. It brings governments, enterprises, experts, and citizens together from around the world to collaboratively build smarter and more livable cities. WSCE presented awards in 8 major categories with a total of 35 awards this year, recognizing outstanding achievements by cities and enterprises leading smart city development. Among these, the “Foreign City Category” evaluated cities based on the adequacy of the initiative, operational innovation, distinction of the governance, urban problem solving and urban competitiveness, and sustainability.
Chen Fu-Tien, Director of the Information Management Center stated that New Taipei City as Taiwan’s most populous city, not only actively addresses global climate issues but also takes proactive measures in anticipation of future challenges. New Taipei City has proactively addressed global climate issues, to build a smart and resilient city by integrating emerging technologies with sustainability concepts to deeply ingrain environmental awareness in the hearts of citizens. New Taipei City has launched the “NewTaiPAY,” a payment tool centered on carbon reduction, sustainability, and public welfare. Through an innovative operational model combined with a reward mechanism that distributes New Taipei Dollars points, it encourages citizens to walk instead of using transportation and to recycle plastic bottles and waste batteries. In the future, citizens will also be able to donate their New Taipei Dollars points to disadvantaged groups. The city government hopes to encourage environmental protection actions and raise public awareness, integrating sustainability into daily life. By collaborating with citizens, it aims to achieve a win-win outcome of environmental sustainability and public welfare.
To achieve a 30% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030 and reach net zero emissions by 2050, New Taipei City spares no effort in promoting and implementing carbon reduction. In addition to taking the lead in responding to the United Nations’ call for international action to achieve net-zero emissions, it also advocates for Sustainable Development Goal 13: Climate Action. In response to the global trend towards net zero emissions and continuing climate governance efforts, New Taipei City has actively promoted carbon reduction and economic benefits through the NewTaiPAY. In recent years, these efforts have gained international recognition, demonstrating the city’s commitment to jointly protecting the earth’s environment and striving to achieve the vision of sustainable urban development.