Sustainable development – and hence a viable lifestyle – was intrinsically linked to the issue of climate change, rendering the topic one of over-arching importance for Malta, Environment Minister Leo Brincat told Parliament yesterday.
Introducing the Climate Change Bill, which establishes a legal and administrative framework for climate action in Malta, Mr Brincat cautioned that the subject was not exclusively environmental as some might presume. A key aspect of the Bill was that it enabled the minister to regulate beyond the parameters of his ministry, having thus an “over-arching responsibility”.
Another aspect of vital importance was that the law provided for ownership and accountability by the various ministries and institutions. It was important, he said, that the application of this law was consistent.
Mr Brincat said that, while the environmental aspect of this legislation was pivotal, the law also had far-reaching impacts on geo-strategic decisions, aspects of security, industry and economics.
Climate change had a significant social impact, particularly on the creation of climate refugees – people driven out of their lands due to a radical and implacable change in climate such as desertification.
This aspect, said the minister, was closely monitored by international bodies, including the United Nations and Nasa.
Statistics showed that, since 1990, Maltese GDP had increased by 260 per cent while the national carbon footprint had fallen by 55 per cent and would go down by a further 40 per cent in five years’ time.
Climate change had a significant social impact
There could be no sustainable development without taking into serious account climate change and its causes. The carbon footprint was a major marker when mitigating the causes of climate change.
Lowering the carbon footprint did not prevent economic development; it simply meant a reduced dependence on fossil fuels. To this end, the government had started a process to introduce a low carbon development strategy for Maltese industry.
The stakeholders at MCESD would be kept updated on an annual basis about the effects government policy in this sphere was having on climate change. Indeed, said the minister, a leading economist in this forum had described the proposed legislation as a silent revolution which would spur a different and evolved economic model – the transition from a brown to a green economy.
Malta had, as yet, no formal legal structure which bound the government to take action on climate change. While the country adhered to international obligations such as the EU’s Climate and Energy Package 2030, the proposed legislation empowered the government to ensure that effective action was taken.
The Bill was also clear about the obligations of the different social partners, particularly with regard to the economy, in ensuring the effectiveness of the legislation.
Mr Brincat cautioned against the creation of structures which appeared to make sense on paper but which yielded little or no practical dividend. He said that, while criticism had been levelled at the Bill for limiting the minister’s powers, legal experts maintained that the enabling powers of this legislation, coupled with parliamentary scrutiny, would actually have the opposite effect.
Another innovative aspect of the Bill was the creation of a climate fund, a financial mechanism that would facilitate the operation of the emissions trading scheme to which Malta was already a party.
Mr Brincat expressed his strong belief in the necessity of having more human resources to handle this aspect, which should be on the agenda for Malta’s turn to take on the EU Presidency in 2017.
The creation of a national Climate Change Organisation, first touted by Prof. Simone Borg, should be a national priority, said Mr Brincat, emphasising that this idea needed to be pushed forward through vision and creativity.
Malta’s geo-political location and size gave the islands the potential of being a veritable laboratory in this field.