Making reusable cups widely available is a top priority for Taiwanese, Greenpeace Taiwan said yesterday as it announced the results of a public survey of 1,500 respondents on proposed policies to combat climate change.
“It looks like the public takes climate change more seriously than political candidates do,” a member of Greenpeace said.
Greenpeace said it held the vote from Sept. 23 to Tuesday, letting participants prioritize 14 policy proposals, including subsidies for electric vehicles, installing solar panels on all buildings and reduced use of plastic.
Photo: Wu Po-hsuan, Taipei Times
Making reusable cups widely available was the top choice among participants from Keelung, Taipei, New Taipei City, Chiayi City and Tainan, as well as in Taitung, Hsinchu, Nantou and Yunlin counties, making it the top choice overall, it said.
Building social housing complexes with net zero emissions was the second-most popular proposal overall, ranking first in Taichung and Kaohsiung, as well as Changhua, Chiayi, Pingtung and Yilan counties, it said.
Most participants from Hualien County prioritized designating city centers as low-carbon traffic areas, it said.
Greenpeace climate and energy campaign director Lena Chang (張皪心) said the public has become more conscious of climate change amid increasing extreme weather events, adding that political candidates would hopefully heed voters’ calls.
“Taiwan is especially vulnerable to climate disasters,” Heart Legal Defense Association secretary-general Kuo Hung-yi (郭鴻儀) said. “Only through cross-regional cooperation, strengthening urban resilience and reducing areas of weakness can we adapt to climate change.”
Ming Chuan University associate professor of urban planning and disaster management Shih Wan-yu (石婉瑜) said increasingly hot summers affect low-income households most severely.
Energy poverty means that some households cannot afford the costs of an air conditioner, she said, adding that Taiwan should adopt a policy similar to Japan, where disadvantaged people are encouraged to make use of cooled public spaces and air conditioners can be rented.
Academia Sinica researcher Wang Jui-keng (王瑞庚) said a net zero traffic dividend should be implemented, as transportation accounted for 14 percent of Taiwan’s carbon emissions.
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