We have heard much about the importance of developing a green economy in Malta. Some of the leading ambassadors on the island have referred to our so far untapped potential for green technological inflows. An Edward Scicluna study on green jobs is known to have been commissioned by the ETC a couple of years ago.
But the question many are asking is whether low carbon jobs in Malta are about to happen or not; or rather whether they are predestined to remain just a myth?
I think the government badly needs an urgent action plan about the current opportunities and future prospects for low carbon jobs in Malta. I am not aware of any concrete plans for Malta to really and truly experience a green stimulus.
Although admittedly the bulk of the European Commission's allocation of some €105bn in cohesion funds to be spent till 2013 to create 'green jobs and growth' seem predestined to end in Eastern Europe, it would be interesting to find out whether through stimulus spending or other programmes, climate-related policies can create new green jobs and make existing ones greener in Malta.
One important factor that must be kept in mind by the entrepreneurial class itself and by those responsible for attracting green foreign direct investment to our shores is that evidence elsewhere suggests that green jobs span a wide array of occupations, skill levels, and salaries, offering opportunities for a broad section of any workforce.
Countries like France have long identified how many jobs they may be expected to create in the two areas of renewables and energy efficiency. Do Maltese economic planners and strategists have any tentative figures in mind, on similar lines?
Regardless of the recently-published climate mitigation report by government, there seems to be little evidence that Malta has any road map as to how to set up the conditions under which the transition to a more climate-compatible economy can and will take place.
What Malta Enterprise really needs to convince one and all is that it is genuinely convinced that far from undermining competitiveness, climate policies can position European business at the technological cutting edge, thus securing rather than undermining and outsourcing employment. The Malta Enterprise incentive packages do not suggest this.
The same way that climate change and sustainable development need to grow together and closer to one another, the relationship between environment and employment must evolve at a faster rate and in a more highly visible manner.
From an initial focus on pollution control and waste management the time will surely come - very soon - when we will need to move towards activities that transform the economy and avoid environmental damage.
As we plan to move towards our and the EU's respective 2020 targets, we need to have a clearer picture of already existing green jobs as well as serious and clinical assessments of potential job growth in these sectors.
Government would do well to carefully scrutinise studies by both the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions and the Association of Conservation of Energy in the UK to realise how the adoption of energy conservation best available technologies and energy efficiency programmes can create many extra jobs.
I have long felt strongly that the building sector needs to be addressed more aggressively. Not only is this sector responsible for 40 per cent of EU final energy consumption, but if Swedish standards were applied across Europe - the country which has the best insulated buildings on the continent - energy savings of more than 50 per cent could be achieved.
Although many tend to refer to EU directives out of fear and trepidation as if we were talking of a slave driver, it is my firm belief that EU directives and regulations can drive forward this process even in Malta.
Mr Brincat is Labour Party spokesman for the environment.
brincat.leo@gmail.com