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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.

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Albert Bezzina

Aug 20th 2010, 21:08

I assure Profs Mallia that he has my full support for his initiatives and learned scrutiny of on goings effecting our environment. I had highlighted gross exclusions by official sources of important polluters in road transport. There is no doubt that cars are by no means unimportant contributors to various pollutants. I do not think it can be denied that the authorities have been particularly heavy handed in dishing out pollutant related fiscal burdens on passenger cars which are out of proportion to their contribution share.
If Profs Mallia could review the emissions inventories (2000 to 2007) available before the February corrections, disappearing emissions from certain road transport categories and blatant transfer of emissions from one category to another leaves little doubt in my mind that there were attempts at implicating passenger cars as the overwhelming polluters. I am convinced that Profs Mallia is aware that authorities do not seek the best option when it comes to choosing between the environment and economic considerations (cf Delimara extension). Authorities impose fiscal burdens on cars not for environmental reasons (hence high vehicle fleet average age and increasing second hand import market) but for economic reasons. These seem to me the ‘stalking horses’.

Albert Bezzina

Aug 20th 2010, 21:33

Cement is not on our CO2 account just like CO2 from burning aviation fuel for international flights and bunkering for shipping. Just because they are not on Malta’s account it does not make them inconsequential to climate change.
If all the 230,000 passenger cars are housed in concrete one-car garages it would need 285,000 tons of cement ONCE (356,000 tons of CO2). That amount of cement would allow the construction of 16000 (175 m3) apartments. Garages in use vs empty apartments.
The cement used on verges of roads would still be required whether passenger cars exist or not.
Profs Mallia is right to say that intensity of road transport use is relevant to emissions. I do not deny my interest in cars. Our household has two drivers. I own four motor cars. One is 25 years old and does less than 200 kms a year (55kg of CO2) the other is a collector’s car and sees 1700 kms a year (590kg of CO2). Emissions equivalent to those emitted by a return flight by a single UK tourist coming to Malta. This illustrate why vehicle numbers do not have a close association with emissions. Driver numbers and intensity of use do.

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