The prevailing global economic recession has pushed out of the spotlight the debate on various environmental issues that are so crucial to the world's future prosperity. With the price of oil now down to well below $40 per barrel, it is easy for world leaders to put hot environmental issues, especially those that relate to climate change, on the backburner.
It was, therefore, encouraging to note that both the government and the opposition took the initiative to revive the environmental agenda. The consultative report of the climate change committee that was made public by the Prime Minister on Thursday coincided with the presentation of a Private Member's Bill on the same subject by the opposition spokesman on the environment.
The report contains a number of recommendations that should focus political attention on important environmental issues that can have serious implications on the quality of life of the Maltese people in the next several decades. Some of the recommendations may look as being purely of an administrative nature but others are very practical and when implemented can have significant effects on reducing carbon dioxide emissions.
Malta can realistically do very little to accelerate the development of clean renewable energy through solar, wind, biomass, or hydro power. But there are other areas, as rightly pointed out in the consultative report, that can bring about early wins in the battle against the threat of global warming.
The phasing out of the Marsa power station, not surprisingly, has been identified as a top priority for political action. Another top priority could be the conservation of more rain water than is presently being done in the context of the high energy costs that Malta is incurring to desalinate sea water.
Promoting energy efficiency and energy conservation is arguably the most practical way through which small states like Malta can gain some control on the massive consequences of various environmental issues that are affecting us. Energy conservation mainly has to do with cutting waste.
Energy efficiency is all about exploiting the advances made in technology to make fuel- and electrically-driven equipment more economical to use.
The implementation plan of the recommendations of the climate change committee should aim for early wins to convince public opinion that the battle against climate change and the excessive dependence on non-renewable energy can indeed be won. This has to be done simultaneously with an educational campaign to encourage people to opt for energy efficient equipment, even if this has to be achieved through positive fiscal incentives to compensate for initial higher costs of acquisition.
Conservation and efficiency in the use of energy may not be able to solve all of the world's energy-related problems. Neither will the efforts of a small island like Malta on their own bring about material change on the consequences of global warming. But we are not alone in this battle and our efforts are as important as those of many others throughout the world who are determined to preserve our planet from environmental meltdown.
One hopes that all the political parties forge an alliance with the scientific and business community and galvanise the support of the public to take immediate action to implement the recommendations of the committee for climate change.