Taiwan has established itself as a leader in offshore wind development in the Asia-Pacific region. As the industry expands, public engagement has become a critical component for ensuring sustainable growth. Effective public engagement supports offshore wind developers in gaining local acceptance for their projects, and for policymakers it provides a foundation of evidence for informed decision-making on offshore wind siting and development. 

To support Taiwan’s offshore wind sector in designing an effective approach to public engagement, a new report from the Carbon Trust aims to provide a foundation for sustainable and inclusive progress, with recommendations to improve the engagement process, while remaining practical for delivery, and not impeding project development.

The specific objectives are to:

• Identify key issues: Examine challenges and barriers within Taiwan's existing public engagement process.
• Highlight learnings: Draw insights from international best practices in established offshore wind markets to identify opportunities for enhancing Taiwan’s public engagement processes.
• Develop a framework: Propose a clear, robust, and transparent public engagement framework as a strategic initiative for the offshore wind sector in Taiwan.

The report informs readers on mechanisms to formalise and better define engagement principles and expectations, and outlines the key principles and objectives for a coordinated engagement approach. Such an approach could minimise the individual burden on offshore wind projects and developers and ensure that stakeholder concerns are heard and addressed at an industry-wide level. The report clearly outlines the benefits that a multi-stakeholder governance committee could have to address concerns, conduct research, and foster positive engagement to support sustainable and inclusive development of offshore wind in Taiwan.