Cycling Challenge - Update week 1 - Taiwan

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The Fundraiser

Week 1 is complete and 81.17 kms have been completed in Taiwan (on Rouvy - read more here).

We thought that we would link this Challenge to other countries and find out a bit about what they are doing about the climate crisis. Come back each week to read more about our visits and check on progress against the fundraising challenge.

Next week we will be cycling in South Africa.

The challenge

Taiwan is highly industrialised and energy-intensive, with heavy manufacturing and semiconductor fabrication plants requiring lots of electricity, particularly as the new chips, which support AI, need even more power to produce. It also faces climate risks (typhoons, sea-level pressure on coastal communities, as happened very recently) while trying to reduce fossil-fuel dependence.

What they’re doing

Taiwan has made an explicit net-zero roadmap that centres on an “energy transition” combined with industrial, lifestyle and social shifts. The country is rapidly expanding renewables, particularly offshore wind and large solar projects, to replace coal and reduce emissions from industry.

Government initiatives

National climate planning (a Net-Zero Roadmap) guides policy across sectors; authorities have set renewable deployment targets, streamlined approvals for wind/solar projects, and are exploring market mechanisms like renewable power trading to match supply and demand. Also, launched in June, Go Green with Taiwan invites companies, nonprofits, academic institutions and other entities to submit bold proposals for green initiatives that involve Taiwanese products or Taiwanese businesses. Ideas will be evaluated on sustainability, feasibility, innovation and the degree to which they incorporate a Taiwanese element. The three best will be given $20,000 each in prize money.

Where they’re innovating and succeeding

Taiwan is leveraging its advanced manufacturing and electronics supply chain to build a local clean-energy ecosystem (turbine components, grid tech, power trading). Offshore wind has become a headline success - rapid deployment and ambitious project pipelines are creating scale and know-how. The country is also experimenting with grid solutions and corporate clean-energy procurement to align big industry demand with renewables.