Cyprus must “completely rethink” its relationship with the environment if it truly wants to achieve climate neutrality, environment commissioner Antonia Theodosiou said on Sunday.

“If we want to achieve climate neutrality, we need to completely rethink our relationship with the environment and the way we design and use urban space. It is not enough to have green spaces,” she told a workshop in Limassol.

She added, “we need a holistic approach that considers, includes, and integrates energy, transport, and natural resource management, the circular economy, and also takes into account tangible and intangible cultural heritage, social wellbeing, and the resilience of cities to the climate crisis”.

She then said that “the path towards climate neutrality, although not easy, is necessary”.

Theodosiou has long been critical of the slow pace of Cyprus’ steps towards environmental consciousness, describing the country’s transition to renewable energy sources as “slow” in September.

Then, she pointed out that the island “has abundant sunshine, which gives us huge opportunities to exploit solar energy as a sustainable alternative”.

Despite the availability of the natural resources, however, she said Cyprus’ transition to using them to generate electricity has been “slow”, which in turn “limits our ability to reduce carbon emissions”.

She did note that progress is being made, however, pointing out that the proportion of Cyprus’ energy being produced through renewable sources is set to grow from 18 per cent to a target of “at least 23 per cent” by the end of the decade.

Earlier, she had called for “drastic lifestyle changes” to combat climate change, saying that “not enough brave efforts are being made.”

She added, “the European Commission’s green transition and green deal programme is not just about planting trees but concerns our actions on a daily basis”.

“Cyprus should not be at the point where it is today with a low participation in renewable energy sources, nor should it have such a high rate of pollution,” she said.

She added that she wishes to undertake a campaign against pollution.

“We pay fines for pollutants and our [energy] production is mainly from fossil fuels. There needs to be a sharp increase in our energy mix and the introduction of renewable energy.

“Another way to balance these pollutants and pay fewer fines is to increase forest area and enhance biodiversity because these areas absorb and store carbon dioxide,” she said.

“We must understand that we cannot yield results by making some small changes and having the same lifestyle. Drastic changes need to be made to what we are used to,” she said.