Govt Urged To Do More On Green Transport

Environmental group Green Sense on Wednesday urged the government to provide more incentives to get people to buy electric vehicles.

The green group surveyed 503 people online from June to July, finding that more than 70 percent of petrol car owners had considered switching to electric vehicles. However, more than half said they hadn't bothered because they found the current incentives unappealing.

Sam Tong, a research assistant with the group, said people are unwilling to spend money on an electric car, even though charging costs are cheaper than buying petrol.

"People think the cost of purchasing electric cars in Hong Kong is very high. This actually prevents them from switching from their fuel cars to electric cars. One of the most important things the government can do is to provide enough subsidies for car users and to bring down the cost of purchasing and maintaining electric cars in Hong Kong," he said.

The group also found that over 97 percent of respondents said they would welcome green public transport, but a quarter would not be willing to pay any extra for such services.

It suggested the government use green bonds to fund discounts for passengers.

Tong added that increasing the proportion of people using public transport and speeding up the use of clean energy public transport are also major ways to help achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.