Environmental Groups' Poll: Over Half of Public Worried About Climate Change Increasing Household Costs

(CNA) An environmental group today released a climate poll showing that over half of the public is concerned that household costs will increase due to climate change within the next five years. The groups have officially written to all county and city mayoral candidates requesting their climate policy platforms and will prioritize visits to the six major metropolitan areas, with results expected to be announced by the end of August.

The "Mothers for Climate Action Alliance" and the "Climate Policy Association" jointly held a press conference today to explain the results of the Taiwan Climate Poll. The survey covered all age groups and townships/districts across Taiwan, with 5,524 valid samples.

Huang Yeh-tang, Executive Director of the Climate Policy Association, explained that the most direct impact of climate change felt by the public is extreme high temperatures, accounting for 35.6%, followed by an increase in the frequency of extreme rainfall in second place. More than half (52.4%) of the public believes that their household will incur additional costs due to climate change within the next one to five years.

The poll further inquired about four major aspects of household "electrification" in response to climate change, including electric vehicles, IH cooktops, heat pump water heaters, and rooftop solar power.

Huang Yeh-tang pointed out that regarding rooftop solar power, the public is most concerned about "decreased installation costs" and "whether solar panels have comprehensive recycling measures." Additionally, a high proportion hopes to promote green buildings or related facilities. In terms of electric vehicles, the public still generally worries about whether charging piles can be installed within community buildings.

Huang Yeh-tang stated that regarding heat pump water heaters, the public is most concerned about electricity costs being lower than gas costs. The replacement with IH cooktops received nearly 50% support, with the public mainly concerned about the risk of gas explosions caused by gas stoves and the emission of fine particulate matter (PM2.5).

Huang Yeh-tang added that the survey shows that subsidies are the most chosen policy promotion method to encourage public electrification, with a support rate of 67.7%.

Hsu Huang-hsiung, a distinguished research fellow at the former Academia Sinica's Research Center for Environmental Changes, stated at the press conference today that due to the global carbon reduction progress not meeting expectations, the goal of controlling global warming to within 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2050 is no longer achievable. If there are no major breakthroughs in the short term, the temperature control target may need to be raised to 2.5 to 3 degrees.

Hsu Huang-hsiung believes that this poll reflects the public's perspective and bottom-up demands. The public's willingness to respond to climate change and achieve net-zero emissions will help the government quickly implement net-zero plans.

Huang Yeh-tang stated that they have now written to all county and city mayoral candidates, hoping they will provide their energy and climate policy platforms. They will then proceed to visit the six major metropolitan areas first and will continuously update climate policy platforms on the "Vote for Climate" website. The results of the visits are expected to be announced to the public by the end of August. (Edited by Chen Ching-fang) 06/22/115

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