The 6th Taiwan Climate Action Expo officially opened on October 2, 2026, at the National Science and Technology Museum. Centered on the theme "Towards Net Zero, Creating the Future Together," the event focuses on key issues such as energy transition, climate adaptation, nature-based solutions, and sustainable oceans. The expo aims to translate international climate commitments into concrete pathways and, on the eve of the COP31 summit, help the public understand the connection between climate change and daily life through cross-disciplinary collaboration and interactive exhibits.

Meanwhile, there is a strong call for international participation in climate governance. Ambassador Angel Liu, Taiwan’s Representative to New Zealand, recently made a public appeal, emphasizing that Taiwan's experience in green technology and renewable energy is indispensable to global participation in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) system, and argued that Taiwan's experience in climate resilience should be incorporated into the scope of international cooperation.

Regarding the specific impacts of climate change, the scientific community has conducted more in-depth assessments of secondary disasters caused by extreme weather. According to research from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the frequency of wildfires has increased significantly due to frequent global heatwaves and droughts, with smoke spreading over thousands of kilometers. The study found that PM2.5 in wildfire smoke poses a higher risk to human health compared to particulate matter from traffic and industrial emissions.

This finding highlights that climate change is not merely an environmental issue but one that directly impacts public health systems. For regions recently threatened by drought and wildfires, including South America, the urgency for climate adaptation has increased significantly.

However, while the world promotes digitalization and the development of artificial intelligence (AI), limitations in energy supply have become a key bottleneck for development in emerging markets. World Bank President Ajay Banga explicitly pointed out during New York Climate Week that emerging markets struggle to build large-scale data centers primarily because electricity resources are extremely precious. AI computing requires vast and stable power infrastructure; for countries with weaker power supply conditions, even with funding and hardware, the stability of electricity supply remains a core obstacle to project implementation.

This perspective contrasts with the "energy transition" path emphasized at the expo, revealing a structural contradiction in resource allocation for developing countries as they pursue both digital and green transformations.

The aforementioned issues have a direct and profound impact on emerging economies such as those in South America. The South American region possesses abundant natural resources but is also deeply affected by droughts and wildfires caused by climate change. If the region must choose between building climate resilience and digital infrastructure, the prioritization of electricity resources will become a dilemma for policymakers. Furthermore, while there is a general consensus on the importance of energy transition, there are divergent views on "how to implement it." Some argue that priority should be given to green technology and renewable energy to strengthen resilience, while others worry that in the absence of sufficient infrastructure, excessive investment in energy-intensive digital industries might crowd out residential electricity demand, leading to social inequality.

Currently, there are still limitations and unknown information in the discussion of climate action. For example, although the academic community has confirmed the harmfulness of wildfire smoke, more empirical data is needed regarding the differences in chemical composition after the combustion of different vegetation types and the long-term health impacts on specific regional populations. Additionally, there is high uncertainty regarding whether the speed of power infrastructure improvement in emerging markets can keep pace with the demands of energy transition. The public should not over-interpret the effectiveness of a single technology or policy; climate adaptation requires cross-border collaboration and localized strategies, rather than simple technology introduction.

Future observations will focus on the concrete commitments from the international community regarding funding and technology transfer for energy transition in emerging markets on the eve of the COP31 summit. At the same time, whether air quality monitoring and public health early warning systems in wildfire-prone areas can be upgraded through international climate cooperation mechanisms will be an important indicator for evaluating the effectiveness of global climate adaptation. How governments balance power supply and sustainable development goals during the digitalization process will also be a core focus of global energy policy in the coming years.