Malta to plan renewable energy programmes

A programme to determine a detailed national policy on the introduction of renewable energy harvesting and on the related project implementation is about to begin, Resources and Infrastructure Minister Ninu Zammit said.

As the formulation of the national policy progresses, Malta would be in a better position to take more feasible and meaningful decisions, he said.

Mr Zammit was speaking at the EU Joint Informal Meeting of the Environment and Energy Ministers in Montecatini, Italy.

Malta, he said, appreciated the concepts behind mechanisms and initiatives such as the establishment of green certificates to sustain renewable energy sources, the development of trade in CO2 emissions allowances and the creation of the so-called white certificates, in conjunction with better efficiency levels.

Mr Zammit said that in the case of essential services like health, as well as the provision of water and food, further environmental degradation would result in "huge financial burdens in the not too distant future when it would then be too late to erase the negative consequences due to climate change".

The adoption of green certificates, white certificates and CO2 emissions trading, would reduce the negative impact of the energy sector on the environment, Mr Zammit said.

Malta was in the process of embarking on renewable energy projects, as well as on co-generation projects.

Discussions on emissions trading are already under way, he said.