Taiwan’s carbon fee brings in 4.97 billion, and 15 subsidy measures take effect—will carbon rights tokenization be the next step?

The Ministry of Environment has officially released the carbon fee subsidy measures. A total of NT$4.97 billion in carbon fees will be returned to support industry energy-saving and low-carbon transformation, with each case eligible for up to 50% in subsidies. At the same time, the global carbon credit market is accelerating toward tokenization on blockchain, using smart contracts to address duplicate calculations and fraud.
(Background: Taiwan’s first batch of carbon credit trading has opened! TSMC, Cathay Financial, and 27 other companies bought 88,000 tons of CO2—can blockchain help the carbon economy?)
(Additional background: The Maicoin Group wants to issue “carbon credit tokens” with an issuance size of NT$30 million through the FSC’s STO framework.)

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• How to apply for the 15 provisions, and who can be subsidized
• Semiconductor pays the most, with companies applying for subsidies such as NT$2 billion
• When carbon credits are moved on-chain, the world is testing tokenization

Taiwan has officially entered an era when carbon emissions have a price. On July 14, the Ministry of Environment officially released the “Subsidy Measures for Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Technologies and Climate Change Adaptation,” with the full text consisting of 15 articles, effective immediately. The carbon fees collected this year have already totaled NT$4.97 billion, all of which are allocated to the Greenhouse Gas Management Fund. The Ministry of Environment has clearly set the subsidy ceiling: for each case, the maximum amount a project can receive is only 50% of the total eligible funding for that case; the other half must be provided by the enterprise itself.

How to apply for the 15 provisions, and who can be subsidized

The Ministry of Environment convened relevant government agencies, industry associations, civil society groups, and local governments to consult and solicit widely for input. This time, the scope of subsidies is fully laid out: statutory entities such as corporations, partnerships/enterprises, factories, private organizations, and administrative agencies may all apply. In addition, public and private colleges and universities, as well as academic research institutions, can also apply.

The subsidy scope focuses on six directions: conversion to low-carbon or zero-carbon fuels and processes, energy-saving measures, carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS), negative-emission technologies, CBAM response, and R&D of innovative emissions-reduction and climate-change adaptation technologies.

However, there is a caveat: anything that falls under statutory obligations—this includes carbon emissions inventory reporting and registration, autonomous reduction plans within the scope of already approved carbon fee-levied entities, incremental offsets, and mandatory carbon footprint reporting—will not be subsidized. Subsidized cases must also cooperate with performance evaluation; the data will be published quarterly on the Ministry of Environment website, meaning each disbursement is effectively tested under public scrutiny.

Semiconductor pays the most, with companies applying for subsidies such as NT$2 billion

The initial carbon fee payments are jointly made by 461 emission sources and 240 enterprises. Of these, the semiconductor industry paid NT$2.2 billion, the highest among all industries.

This round of subsidy measures has budgeted approximately NT$2 billion. In addition, it is paired with a NT$500 million carbon fee credit guarantee and interest subsidy mechanism, aiming to help small and medium-sized enterprises lower the threshold for transformation financing. Between collecting and releasing, the government aims to turn carbon fees into an accelerant for industry transformation.

When carbon credits are moved on-chain, the world is testing tokenization

At present, the subsidy measures are still dealing with traditional energy-saving and emissions-reduction engineering projects; they have not yet touched another pathway that has been gaining momentum internationally in recent years: carbon credit tokenization.

PwC estimates that the global carbon credit market will reach US$100 billion by 2030. According to tracking by rwa.xyz, as of the first quarter of 2026, the size of tokenized assets worldwide has already exceeded US$30 billion, spanning six major categories. U.S. Treasuries and private credit are still leading the top two spots so far, but carbon credit tokenization is rapidly catching up.

The logic of moving carbon credits onto a blockchain is straightforward: with smart contracts and on-chain records, it can prevent the same unit of carbon credits from being repeatedly calculated and resold through fraud. The speed and cost of transaction settlement can also be noticeably improved. In early 2026, Brazil’s Banco do Brasil and the national development bank BNDES have already launched a regulated carbon trading exchange, enabling agricultural producers to use carbon credits as collateral to apply directly to banks for financing.

Microsoft and Google go even further by starting to use “24/7 carbon-free energy” tokens, mapping each hour of electricity usage to corresponding hourly carbon removal records—making carbon-neutral calculations precise down to the hour rather than, as in the past, using annual totals to approximate.

In fact, in 2023 when Taiwan’s first batch of carbon credit trading opened, 27 companies including TSMC and Cathay Financial bought 88,000 tons of CO2 at once. At the same time, the Maicoin Group also attempted to issue “carbon credit tokens” with an issuance size of NT$30 million through the FSC’s STO framework, though subsequent progress was limited.