Government politicians often give the impression that Malta’s renewable energy programme is going ahead smoothly. It is not. Both the European Commission and, more recently, the Auditor General have brought this up in separate reports, but these do not seem to have generated enough interest to stir a public discussion on the reasons for this, with the public preferring to focus on the rise in the price of petrol at the pump and in the rates for water and electricity.

This is quite understandable, for these rises have hit the pockets of most, creating discontent and often leading to sharp criticism of the Administration. With the gradual removal of subsidies, the energy rates have shot up, and with the price of crude oil still running at a high level, it is unlikely that there will be any cuts in the foreseeable future. All this, and other hot subjects, such as the upcoming referendum on whether or not Malta should have divorce legislation, the never-ending issue over hunting and, once again, the controversy over the way higher remuneration was granted to government ministers, have pushed the renewable energy programme to the sideline.

And yet, there are very good reasons for keeping the renewable energy programme on the national agenda. Other than helping to substantially reduce the island’s huge fuel bill, renewable energy contributes to a cleaner environment. Targets have been set but the programme is falling behind, which is not surprising. Many joke about the way things are done in Malta, but this is no laughing matter. The economy may not be doing badly and the island has managed to slip out of the recession ahead of other countries, but if the country is to raise the standard of living, surely the most desirable aim in social and economic development, greater importance would have to be given to planning and efficiency.

But to go back to the energy renewable programme, the Auditor General has remarked in a performance audit that current initiatives and plans devised by various government entities, intended to stimulate the use of renewable energy, appropriately addressed the recommendations proposed by the office in 2009. But, and here is the crunch, progress amounted to only one-third of its 2010 projected renewable energy targets, as indicated in the national renewable energy action plan.

The European Commission singled out Malta as the member state that was not making any tangible progress to reach the targets by 2020. Even so, though the progress made was considered disappointing, the EU executive did point out that the island was still planning to reach its commitments in less than 10 years’ time. According to the commitments already made, Malta must start producing a minimum of 10 per cent of all its electricity generation from renewable sources by 2020. Will the country meet the target?

In his report, the Auditor General said that despite the implementation delays, the progress registered to date and revised plans indicated that the island would be in a position to fulfil its targets. He remarks, however, that fulfilling the obligations was dependent on the current drive being sustained to keep project implementation delays to a minimum. Still, the attainment of the 2010 targets “remains critically dependent on the feasibility and eventual implementation of major projects, as well as the interest in the proposed projects by potential investors”.

Maybe, less rhetoric and greater action and efficiency will help Malta reach the targets, or some of them at least.