In just under a month the time has come: the House of Representatives elections. To help voters make their (sustainable) political choice, ASN Bank has relaunched its Sustainable Voting Guide.
The electoral guide consists of sixteen statements regarding sustainability. Consider, for example, ‘The price of products must include all costs, including those of climate and environmental damage and living wages’ or ‘The Netherlands must build new nuclear power stations’.
In total, the statements were submitted to nine political parties (which are expected to obtain more than five seats. Six of them (CDA, Christian Union, D66, Groenlinks-PvdA, Party for the Animals and the VVD) responded, three did not (BBB, New Social Contract and PVV).
Although every party pretends to strive for a more sustainable world, the Electoral Guide shows that the parties do not always map out the same routes. Although people seem to be quite unanimous when it comes to making public transport cheaper and building more affordable small or collective housing, views on agriculture, nature conservation, nuclear power stations and ‘true pricing’ differ widely.
Flash poll
Apart from the Sustainable Voting Guide, ASN Bank also conducted its own study. The flash poll among 1,000 respondents shows that sustainability plays an important role in the choice of a political party for 4 in 10 voters. Despite this, only 1 in 5 think they have a good idea of the parties’ sustainability positions. The Sustainable Voting Guide should help the rest of the voters with this.
In addition, the flash poll shows that for almost half of voters, voting is a way to influence a more sustainable world. “The poll shows that more than a quarter of voters research the sustainability positions of a political party,” explains Piet Sprengers (Head of Sustainability Strategy at ASN Bank).
Voters inform themselves via party websites or election manifestos. But not everyone takes the same amount of time for this, according to Sprengers. “That’s why we did the preliminary work. With the Sustainable Voting Guide we make it easier to vote green in a well-considered manner.”
You can use the Sustainable Choosing Guide here find.
The post first appeared on www.banken.nl