Fudging and fantasies of emissions data

Authorities do not need to feed us fudged environmental data. Most Maltese do not care. Environmental issues repeatedly centre on road transport with a strategy depicting passenger cars as the cause of our environmental ills. It is a strategy meant to justify heavy-handed policies being relentlessly implemented to dissuade the ownership and use of passenger cars.

There is nothing inherently wrong in striving for a reduction in passenger cars use for the environment's sake. However, the authorities' obsession with vilifying the passenger car has nothing to do with concern for the environment as can be seen by the tax leniency conveyed on commercial and heavy vehicles. Environmental issues are used to justify car-unfriendly policies meant to reduce expenditure on imported vehicles, and recently, to increase the client base (commuters) for the private contractor who will operate the new public transport set-up.

Two weights and two measures used by official statements regarding the effects of passenger cars on the environment repeatedly ignore or underplay all other sources of emissions. The innocuous looking One World series appearing in The Times and published by Mepa such as that which appeared on May 25 seems to have been churned out by a political party spin doctor and ordained with fudged data.

The Earth Trends ( http://earthtrends.wri.org ) Malta emissions profile states that "emissions include all sectors of the economy, but do not include international aviation or ship emissions, which are accounted for under bunker fuels".

This means that, apart from the official total GHG emissions of 3070 Gg of CO2 equivalent, the article does not take into consideration around 290 Gg of CO2 equivalent from international aviation (which bring in and take out 1.2 million tourists a year) nor does it take account of the 2300 Gg of CO2 equivalent emissions from the marine sector (mostly shipping in transit). The share due to international aviation is significant but is not included in the total GHG emissions inventory of Malta by convention. Most convenient! So while the energy sector accounts for 88 per cent of gross national emissions (2006, including all transport), the transport emissions share (including aviation) accounts for 24 per cent of 2006 national emissions, shared between aviation (8.62 per cent) and road transport (15.38 per cent). I ask the author at Mepa if he had a brief to make emissions from road transport look ever so devilish by expressing it as a percentage of transport emissions excluding aviation (96.3 per cent) rather than declaring its share from the total national GHG emissions!

Passenger cars account for 7.2 per cent of the national GHG emissions, less than the GHG emissions from international jet travel fuelling Malta's tourist industry.

The One World article further fudges transport emissions data by stating that "the trend in historic emissions from road transport mirrors the increase in the total number of licensed motor vehicles making up the national vehicle fleet". While emissions from the transport sector did increase up to 2001, these have remained at roughly the same level since, in spite of an increasing number of licensed motor vehicles on the island (National Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory Report for Malta 1990 - 2006). On the other hand, emissions from energy industries (power generation) has continued to increase relentlessly. Road transport GHG emissions increased by 180 Gg from 1990 to 2006; in the same period, energy generation has seen an increase of 624 Gg.

So, while government policies continue to implement fiscal and regulatory measures to castigate motorists in passenger cars with little prospect of gaining significant emission reductions, no serious measures have been contemplated which could influence a reduction in GHG emissions from all other sources which account for 92 per cent of Malta's GHG emissions. Returning to 1995 emission levels is going to be a fantasy as long as the authorities keep focused on road transport emissions and imposing fiscal burdens only on passenger cars.