EDITORIAL: The Year of the Hybrid Oscars (and Ministers)

California is one of the world leaders in emissions controls and often slaps heavy fines on motorists and industrialists who contribute to world pollution with their gas guzzlers and inefficient factories.

This message was driven home even more eloquently over the weekend, not by the Oscar awards that went to “An Inconvenient Truth”, Al Gore’s documentary on global pollution, but by the parade of hybrid cars to drive the Hollywood stars to the Academy Awards ceremony.

In a state where emission controls and energy saving are taken very seriously, this promotion boosted the campaign for ‘green cars’ even further.

Across the seas, however, civil servants in Cyprus lack this environmental conscience. And this can be blamed squarely on the politicians themselves, both the members of the present-day administration and opposition parties, as well as past governments. Because it us to political leaders to devise and implement an environmental policy that will eventually trickle down to all levels of the government machine, who in turn will introduce attractive incentives to encourage motorists to become more environmentally friendly.

Despite a national apathy towards energy saving, Cyprus is faring relatively well, with (only) 150 Prius hybrid saloons sold over the past year or so if one considers that 640,000 of these Toyotas run on roads worldwide.

The CYP 700 (EUR 1200) discount incentive offered by the state for the purchase of one of these cars or any other hybrid made by other manufacturers, is not much of an incentive in the first place. If one is friendly with any local car dealer in Cyprus, that would be the discount they would get in the showroom anyway!

There is a further minor incentive on the annual road tax and a smaller discount for conventional petrol cars that produce emissions below the EU-norm of CO2 pollutants. But these can hardly be considered as incentives for the average family person to consider switching from gas guzzlers to ‘green cars’.

It has been proposed that Ministers employ a fleet of hybrids and set the good example to the average tax-paying motorist — combined with increased incentives these could help reduce the pollution problem in Cyprus before it gets out of hand.

If the late veteran journalist (and for a brief period MP) Christakis Katsambas could ride his bicycle to parliament, surely an MP or a Minister could have the courage to drive to work in a hybrid or electric car.