I am aligned to the EU plan on green transition. I am also aligned to several policies of the Green Party and Animal Party. My manifesto pledge on the environment will be published in full after talking to stakeholders. My ideas:

Green energy: I want ways the largest cities, towns, and villages can be solar powered and/or supplied with wind and wave power, and how the land underneath can still be used and for what, including earthquake contingency if these energy generators get damaged. 

Recycling: I believe rural residents should have access to large container-type open skips placed along highways at nearly every exit and on major roads to dispose of paper, plastic, bottles, and cans. The recycling contractors should undertake the sorting as done in other countries.

Rubbish: I want ways rubbish can be burnt using a state-of-the-art incinerator that will create electricity as a by-product instead of the current environmentally disastrous method of burying it.

Taxis: I want to commission a study into how taxi drivers can be helped to lease hybrid or electric cars. The state can help possibly leverage the bulk purchase in partnership with the commercial sector and lease them for an all-in monthly payment for 5 years to include servicing and parts. By sharing use, many can be on the road 22 hours a day to save costs. To subsidise costs further, the commercial sector could own the rights to advertising on or in every taxi.   

Solar panels: I want the state in partnership with the EAC and financial institutions to offer solar panels for zero deposit including installation and connection. The EAC (and eventually other energy providers) can guarantee these energy loans are repaid via customers’ electricity bills. If they don’t pay their electricity bills, they will be cut off as now, yet still feed solar power to the national energy grid. If commercial banks charge silly interest rates, I will invite the capital markets to invest with a guaranteed return. This infrastructure loan will be hedged with very little risk to the state.

This scheme will initially be offered to homeowners who have a good history of generally paying their electricity bills on time. It will be a contractual matter between a landlord and tenant after this scheme is possibly extended to rental properties. Finally, to be clear, I am very much in favour of solar parks being built in parallel. However, the only current winners are the owners of these solar parks and the EAC. Solar panels on homes means almost free electricity after the loans (directly paid off the customers’ electricity bills) are repaid in 3-7 years. Based on current electricity prices, the loans will likely cost less than electricity bills are now.

New homes: In consultation with property developers who will be given incentives, I will propose that the installation of solar panels will become mandatory on all new homes built from 2026. This will only apply to detached properties over, say, €250,000.I will require the EAC to give further incentives so that these new properties, until sold, will provide electricity to the national grid. Today, there are thousands of new empty homes for sale. Imagine if they all had solar panels feeding our country’s electricity needs. Why has this not been done before?  

Politicians: Let’s recycle all the political dinosaurs. The first step is voting for me in February.           

None of the above is rocket science. I’m not proposing Cyprus be the first country to send a manned mission to Mars. Why hasn’t any Cyprus government implemented most of them? There’s something strange about Cyprus which I suspect many dinosaur politicians haven’t noticed. Cyprus is very sunny. Cyprus is windy. And Cyprus is an island surrounded by waves.