Consideration of Malta’s national energy strategy is often overshadowed by concerns about lack of contractual transparency and inevitable suspicions about what lies behind the veils of “commercial sensitivity” drawn over the use of taxpayers’ money. These pervasive issues of governance do need to be addressed. Cutting to the strategic substance, however, one may arrive at two conclusions.

First, building an interconnector to the European grid was a brilliant strategic move. Ending the insularity of our energy sector, it opened access to diverse continental energy sources to supplement strategically necessary domestic production.

Secondly, shifting the domestic production base from oil to gas and decommissioning the Marsa power station were moves in the right direction for both public health and environmental sustainability. Still, questions about the security of the floating gas supply operation at Delimara must be answered convincingly.

Credit may thus be given where it is due on either side of the political fence. But the protagonists of our political culture seem to be happier indulging in ‘mine is bigger/ better than yours’ repartee.

From one side come suggestions that the interconnector may be relied upon for a stable electricity supply covering our total needs and that a power station in Malta has, thus, become an expensive superfluity.

Surely, serious thinkers on that side realise that it would be irresponsible to do away with national power capacity and put all our energy eggs in the interconnector basket. The European grid on which the interconnector feeds is not immune to disruption – even one as trivial as the fallen tree in Switzerland that knocked out Italy’s electricity supply for a while in 2003. One can imagine, and must be prepared for, more serious offshore threats to our national energy security.

From the other side, comes the reported assertion in Parliament – by the Prime Minister, no less, expressing pride in the achievements of his government – that the switch to gas in power generation would put Malta in the forefront of the energy of the future.

That assessment, too, is questionable. Gas is certainly cleaner than coal or oil but is still a fossil fuel, emitting carbon dioxide and, thus, contributing to global climate change.

Malta could place itself at the political forefront of a proactive EU contribution to a renewable energy future

The best place that gas merits in the timeline of sustainable energy is as the leading energy of the recent past. For example, the UK’s ‘Dash for Gas’ – away from coal – was a novelty of the 1990s. But we understand now that the ‘energy of the future’ is renewable.

Do such conflicting statements result from normal exuberance in political messaging?

Perhaps.  But people with their future ahead of them, whatever their political colour, have the strongest possible interest in that future being safe and sustainable. They should find common baselines for its pursuit, even though their preferred paths ahead may differ.

Moreover, the EU culture that pervades our political leadership on both sides of the fence should encourage a long-term view of energy strategy as a crucial factor of security and prosperity, beyond electoral calendars.

Taking this argument into the European space, it can be stated that continuing EU reliance on gas implies an uncomfortable choice between – or combination of  – two strategic options: environmentally-controversial ‘fracking’ (hydraulic fracturing of rock to release gas) and geopolitically-undesirable dependence on imports by pipeline from questionable regimes of the ‘former Soviet Union’, where the idea of using pipelines as political levers is not unknown.

The alternative for the EU is being demonstrated by Germany. Its ambitious and far-sighted Energiewende (energy turnaround) is investing successfully in solar and wind power. At the same time, the costs of producing solar energy are reported to be falling worldwide.

So, instead of slipping into increased dependence on gas pipelines, the EU could be exploring the technical and political challenges of reaching out to the immense, untapped solar potential of the Sahara – starting, perhaps, in Morocco, which has already made impressive solar investments. This month’s United Nations climate change conference in Marrakech will provide opportunities to consult quietly on such an alternative strategy.

Moreover, while waiting to be linked to the tail end of a backward-looking gas pipeline network, Malta could use its forthcoming EU presidency to place itself at the political forefront of a proactive EU contribution to a renewable energy future – one that will give humankind a chance of keeping adverse climatic impacts to a minimum.

That would echo Malta’s noteworthy initiative in 1988 to place “protection of global climate” on the United Nations agenda. It could give our political leaders a respite from bickering, uniting them for the good of present and future generations in Malta and around the world. And it would be a fitting response to the visionary appeal of Pope Francis to “care for our common home”.

Now there is a challenge for our political class!

Michael Zammit Cutajar participated in the international negotiations on climate change issues between 1991 and 2015.