Malta’s sticky transport situation

How would one deal with a massive traffic jam in an island like ours? Basing on the Environment Report 2008 (SoE 2008), the number of registered motor vehicles reached 294,658 in 2008, a 2.6 per cent increase on the previous year while the importation of second-hand vehicles exhibits an upward trend. In 2008, only 30 electric cars were registered.

Public transport reform or not and despite any park-and-ride scheme, SoE 2008 admits that public transport remains underutilised. With an estimated total length of road network of circa 2,300 kilometres, the number of passenger cars for Malta per 1,000 inhabitants is 548 compared to 464 for the EU27. On a positive note, though hardly surprising perhaps, Eurostat gives the number of traffic fatalities in Malta for 2007 as just 12, the lowest in Europe.

The European Environment Agency (EEA) has recently published its TERM 2009 report (EEA Report 2/2010), which reviews the status of transport and environment in the EU. The report is directly linked to the impact of transport across Europe – air, land and sea – in relation to air quality and greenhouse gas emissions issues.

The TERM report has regularly been published by the EEA since 2000 and it has gradually evolved around 40 indicators grouped under seven TERM policy context objectives and aimed at directing EU policy towards attaining a low-carbon transport system. The TERM 2009 analysis comprises a find-out across all 32 EEA member countries, that is, the EU27 plus Turkey, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Norway.

The transport sector will have to contribute quite significantly in the mitigation efforts towards cutting carbon emissions.

The 50 per cent reduction target in global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, equivalent to between 80 and 95 per cent reductions for developed countries alone, is practically impossible to achieve unless a collective effort is made by all countries to curb emissions from transport sources. It is interesting to note that carbon emissions from the major transport sources are not yet covered by the EU Emissions Trading Scheme Directive.

As from April 2009, however, the directive has been amended to include provisions covering emissions from the aviation sector such that for the year 2012 emissions allowances to the aviation industry shall be allocated on a “historical aviation emissions” scenario baseline covering 97 per cent of average emissions for the years 2004, 2005 and 2006. It is understood that these shall be allocated free of charge. This capping shall be subject to revision as stipulated by the directive and it is reasonable to expect that this shall be in downward fashion, becoming more stringent.

Annex I of the directive includes aviation as one of the categories within its remit but, compared to other sectors where the capping has been extended to cover other greenhouse gases such as nitrous oxide and perfluorocarbons, carbon dioxide is the only gas capped under the aviation sector. The implications of this recent amendment to the directive still need to be explored further, especially in terms of how small economically sensitive airlines such as Air Malta should be impacted.

Road transport is by far the major issue at stake in this field, not just in Malta but also across Europe.

In this regard, the reference point is Directive 2009/443/EC regulating the average emissions of new cars in the EU between 2010 and 2020. According to TERM 2009, whereas in 2008 average emissions from new cars were 154 grammes CO2 per kilometre the latter directive stipulates that this has to go down to 95 grammes CO2 per kilometre by 2020. The directive makes it clear that exceeding the limit will result in fines.

Revised vehicle licensing fees aside, the exact status of the Maltese vehicle fleet in this respect remains undefined but it should be noted that under the EU Climate and Energy Package Malta has a binding commitment of capping its non-ETS emissions to five per cent by 2020, taking 2005 as baseline. It is postulated that under a business-as-usual scenario Maltese emissions from this sector, mainly transport, may rise to a staggering 18.1 per cent.

A rigorous analysis presented by the Economic Policy Division of the Ministry of Finance, the Economy and Investment in November 2008 concludes that failing to meet emission targets in the transport sector may amount to costs in the range of €39.2 million between 2013 and 2020 and these costs should be expected to rise as EU legislation becomes more stringent. Note that this excludes greenhouse emissions from the waste sector.

Recent developments in EU policy on energy and climate suggest that the state of affairs of Malta’s road transport sector is indeed quite alarming. In the conclusion to the July 2008 document Public Transport In Malta, published by the Ministry for Infrastructure, Transport and Communications, reference is made to ferries and water taxis. It is also stated that “… by mid next year (that is, mid-2009), the government can take the appropriate steps to implement a concrete plan to meet the set objectives.” A “detailed study on the introduction of a tram on one (or two) routes” should also have been commissioned. Where do we stand – concretely – in the summer of 2010?

sapulis@gmail.com

The author specialises in environmental management.