Malta faces fines over emissions
Malta could face fines of hundreds of million of euro unless it tackles its forecast emissions to comply with targets set by the EU Emissions Trading Scheme.It has three choices: to negotiate higher emission levels with the EU, to reduce the levels, or...
Malta could face fines of hundreds of million of euro unless it tackles its forecast emissions to comply with targets set by the EU Emissions Trading Scheme.
It has three choices: to negotiate higher emission levels with the EU, to reduce the levels, or to buy emission credits from more efficient countries.
At present, under the provisions of the EU directive, Malta is proposing 2.96 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year in its National Allocation Policy for the period 2008 to 2012, of which 2.19 million would be Enemalta's and 0.7 million would be from the New Entrant Reserve.
However, the European Commission has decided that the total should be 2.14 million tonnes a year, meaning that Malta would somehow have to reduce its emissions by over 27 per cent!
The penalty stipulated in the directive is around €100 per tonne, which - in the worst case scenario - would work out to €410 million between 2008 and 2012, according to Canadian consultant John Balint, who is helping the Ministry for Rural Affairs and the Environment to set out a strategy for Malta.
Malta's position was explained by the climate change officer of the Malta Environment and Planning Authority, Saviour Vassallo, during a recent seminar organised by the Malta Council for Science and Technology.
The seminar explained the Clean Development Mechanisms (CDM), an arrangement under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which allows industrialised countries that need to reduce their greenhouse gases to invest in emission reducing projects in developing countries. This is often less costly than reducing emissions in their own country.
Malta and Cyprus have found themselves in an anomalous position. Other EU countries belong to the category known as Annex 1, which has a five per cent emission reduction targets under the Kyoto Protocol, between 2008 and 2012. Malta and Cyprus, however, are known as non-Annex 1, at least until 2012. Their position - and obligations - after that date is not clear.
The emission targets cover carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons and other greenhouse gases. The targets are measured as carbon dioxide equivalents. Malta is by no means a serious offender, with very low emission rates per capita. However, it fares worse when its emissions are compared to GDP. Carbon dioxide is by far the greatest problem here, although methane levels - emitted from decomposing waste - are also fairly high. Most of Malta's carbon dioxide comes from the generation of energy, and from use of fossil fuel in industry, commercial and residential sectors to a lesser extent.
The chairman of MCST, David Spiteri Gingell, believes that the potential fines create a very powerful incentive to innovate and find solutions.
The seminar was aimed at top officials from government entities who were queueing up to make appointments to see how they could benefit from CDM, including the Malta Transport Authority, Enemalta and the Water Services Corporation.
Although the price for emissions is currently around €10 per tonne, if the US were to sign up to the Kyoto Protocol it could create massive demand for credits as it is well above the emissions targets for a developed country.
"A number of European countries want to buy emissions credits. We have already been approached by Austria," Mr Spiteri Gingell said.
"Malta can adopt an aggressive role in research and development. We should see ourselves as incremental innovators, taking existing technology and adapting it to southern conditions like sunshine, wind and dust.
"We can create capacity with our northern and southern neighbours to become a centre of excellence for CDM."
Ta' Zwejra landfill offers hope for more emission projects
It is estimated that 19,000 tonnes of emissions could be reduced from the Ta' Zwejra landfill, which could be used as credit towards Malta's emissions targets - or sold to other countries which exceed their own. The current value of a carbon equivalent unit is €10, although this varies as it is considered to be a commodity, whose price is determined by supply and demand.
If it were successful, the project could be extended to Ghallis landfill, which has a potential emission reduction of 100,000 tonnes.
The emissions reduction scheme is part of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which falls under the Kyoto Protocol. Malta could not participate in CDM projects until now as it simply did not have the administrative structure to run them, consultant Marco Cremona explained. However, a national contact point was designated last October and the national authority was identified last November.
The Ta' Zwejra project is aimed at either burning the methane emissions, or capturing them and using them to produce energy. Aided by foreign consultant Norbert Gerbers, WasteServ is evaluating the options and relevant costs, as well as what the potential revenue could be from the project.
Methane is 23 times as harmful as carbon dioxide in terms of climate change.
For the emissions to be traded, the project must be validated under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which should take a further two months. This means the project could be up and running by September.
There are numerous other possible CDM projects and the success of the Ta' Zwejra one should encourage many more investors. These are being promoted by the research institute falling under the MCST umbrella, EuroMedITI. The institute set up a working group last February to evaluate projects and match them to interested investors. These include a wind farm, domestic solar water heaters, desalination efficiency projects and the use of biogas.
It has three choices: to negotiate higher emission levels with the EU, to reduce the levels, or to buy emission credits from more efficient countries.
At present, under the provisions of the EU directive, Malta is proposing 2.96 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year in its National Allocation Policy for the period 2008 to 2012, of which 2.19 million would be Enemalta's and 0.7 million would be from the New Entrant Reserve.
However, the European Commission has decided that the total should be 2.14 million tonnes a year, meaning that Malta would somehow have to reduce its emissions by over 27 per cent!
The penalty stipulated in the directive is around €100 per tonne, which - in the worst case scenario - would work out to €410 million between 2008 and 2012, according to Canadian consultant John Balint, who is helping the Ministry for Rural Affairs and the Environment to set out a strategy for Malta.
Malta's position was explained by the climate change officer of the Malta Environment and Planning Authority, Saviour Vassallo, during a recent seminar organised by the Malta Council for Science and Technology.
The seminar explained the Clean Development Mechanisms (CDM), an arrangement under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which allows industrialised countries that need to reduce their greenhouse gases to invest in emission reducing projects in developing countries. This is often less costly than reducing emissions in their own country.
Malta and Cyprus have found themselves in an anomalous position. Other EU countries belong to the category known as Annex 1, which has a five per cent emission reduction targets under the Kyoto Protocol, between 2008 and 2012. Malta and Cyprus, however, are known as non-Annex 1, at least until 2012. Their position - and obligations - after that date is not clear.
The emission targets cover carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons and other greenhouse gases. The targets are measured as carbon dioxide equivalents. Malta is by no means a serious offender, with very low emission rates per capita. However, it fares worse when its emissions are compared to GDP. Carbon dioxide is by far the greatest problem here, although methane levels - emitted from decomposing waste - are also fairly high. Most of Malta's carbon dioxide comes from the generation of energy, and from use of fossil fuel in industry, commercial and residential sectors to a lesser extent.
The chairman of MCST, David Spiteri Gingell, believes that the potential fines create a very powerful incentive to innovate and find solutions.
The seminar was aimed at top officials from government entities who were queueing up to make appointments to see how they could benefit from CDM, including the Malta Transport Authority, Enemalta and the Water Services Corporation.
Although the price for emissions is currently around €10 per tonne, if the US were to sign up to the Kyoto Protocol it could create massive demand for credits as it is well above the emissions targets for a developed country.
"A number of European countries want to buy emissions credits. We have already been approached by Austria," Mr Spiteri Gingell said.
"Malta can adopt an aggressive role in research and development. We should see ourselves as incremental innovators, taking existing technology and adapting it to southern conditions like sunshine, wind and dust.
"We can create capacity with our northern and southern neighbours to become a centre of excellence for CDM."
Ta' Zwejra landfill offers hope for more emission projects
It is estimated that 19,000 tonnes of emissions could be reduced from the Ta' Zwejra landfill, which could be used as credit towards Malta's emissions targets - or sold to other countries which exceed their own. The current value of a carbon equivalent unit is €10, although this varies as it is considered to be a commodity, whose price is determined by supply and demand.
If it were successful, the project could be extended to Ghallis landfill, which has a potential emission reduction of 100,000 tonnes.
The emissions reduction scheme is part of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which falls under the Kyoto Protocol. Malta could not participate in CDM projects until now as it simply did not have the administrative structure to run them, consultant Marco Cremona explained. However, a national contact point was designated last October and the national authority was identified last November.
The Ta' Zwejra project is aimed at either burning the methane emissions, or capturing them and using them to produce energy. Aided by foreign consultant Norbert Gerbers, WasteServ is evaluating the options and relevant costs, as well as what the potential revenue could be from the project.
Methane is 23 times as harmful as carbon dioxide in terms of climate change.
For the emissions to be traded, the project must be validated under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which should take a further two months. This means the project could be up and running by September.
There are numerous other possible CDM projects and the success of the Ta' Zwejra one should encourage many more investors. These are being promoted by the research institute falling under the MCST umbrella, EuroMedITI. The institute set up a working group last February to evaluate projects and match them to interested investors. These include a wind farm, domestic solar water heaters, desalination efficiency projects and the use of biogas.