Climate change has seriously affected inflation over the past three years, Greenpeace said today, but the Ministry of Environment warned that the cause of rising prices requires more research.
Taiwan’s consumer price index has been above 2 percent for three consecutive years since 2022 and the cost of living continues to rise, said Fang Chun-wei (方君維), director of Greenpeace’s climate and energy campaign.
Climate-related inflation has cost the average household an additional NT$8,000 over the past three years, Fang said, citing data from the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics.
Photo: Chen Chia-yi, Taipei Times
Greenpeace calculated the change in fruit and vegetable prices based on the monthly overview of price changes released by the agency, she said.
By selecting months in which weather events caused fruit and vegetable prices to rise, they estimated that climate change cost the average household an additional NT$7,485 in food expenses over the past three years, Fang said.
They also found use of air-conditioners had increased 14 percent in the past three years due to hot weather, she said, citing data from the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
This caused electric bills to rise by about NT$944 for the average household, Fang said.
Climate-related inflation should be discussed at the upcoming National Climate Change Committee meeting on Thursday, Greenpeace said.
The government should conduct an economic impact assessment of climate-related inflation and expand investment in net-zero policies, the organization said.
It should also increase corporate and public participation in renewable energy and accelerate Taiwan’s energy transition, looking to Australia’s “Future Made in Australia” and Japan’s “Green Transformation” acts as models, it said.
Climate change affects temperature and food production, which would inevitably affect prices, Climate Change Administration Deputy Director-General Huang Wei-ming (黃偉鳴) said.
However, more data and long-term research is necessary to support the claim that climate change is the primary cause of rising prices, Huang said.
The organization’s call for low-carbon policies aligns with the government, and the committee would announce Taiwan’s carbon reduction goals for 2032 and 2035 on Thursday, he added.
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