State of the environment
Climate change
How is climate change being affected?
Malta's greenhouse gas emissions increased by 44 per cent between 1990 and 2003, and derive largely from the energy and transport sectors.
There is an urgent need to decouple economic growth from energy consumption.
The Maltese climate has changed slightly over the last 50 years and is slowly becoming warmer and dryer, consistent with international climate change predictions. Malta is expected to suffer moderate impacts from climate change, mainly related to deterioration of water supplies and quality, and more frequent extreme weather events. Yet due to its dependence on coastal activities its economic vulnerability is expected to be moderate to moderately high.
Even if global society gradually reduces its greenhouse gas emissions over the coming decades, climate change is likely to continue over the next centuries; mitigation and adaptation strategies are therefore necessary.
Some facts:
¤ Transport-related GHG emissions increased by 45 per cent between 1990 and 2000 and now account for 20 per cent of total.
¤ Weather data indicates a 0.5ºC rise in average annual temperature over the past 77 years.
The State of the Environment Report 2005 is a Mepa publication available on www.mepa.org.mt.