Now that climate/environmental/sustainable development and energy issues have become increasingly intertwined and interlinked, the challenges ahead in the new decade are bound to appear even more daunting.
In the past decade, although we came round to understanding climate change, we still failed to do anything about it.
On the environmental front, we might have started as a society to take certain threats and challenges seriously but, in many cases, warning signals were conveniently ignored.
On the energy front, we risk facing a big energy supply deficit if, as was recently reported in the media, the interconnector project lags behind (something Enemalta denies), particularly since the Delimara power plant extension, regardless of whether we opt for heavy fuel oil or not, will generate far less energy than the Marsa plant has done so far.
On the renewables front, it was risible and pathetic to hear the Resources Minister and the Prime Minister claim that if the wind farm at Sikka l-Bajda failed, Malta would have to renegotiate its EU 2020 targets due to the size and specific circumstances of the island, including water depths, when it has been evident from day one that the European Commission would not even consider allowing us to move the goalposts anew simply because we are unlikely to deliver on our renewable energy promises.
On the Mepa front, although we have been promised new legislation once Parliament reconvenes, I still need to be convinced that the changes will be of the root and branch sort that will help neutralise the perception that exists in Eurostat circles that a very strong whiff of irregularities hovers over the issuing of building permits at Mepa's end.
It was humiliating enough that, on the basis of our poor track record in the renewables sector, we were given the lowest target among the 27 countries when we joined the EU as we were the only member state with no form of renewable energy production.
I repeat that we urgently need a country-specific national strategic plan to maximise the use of our most natural renewable energy source - solar power. If need be, we should draw on the expertise of major key players in the EU like Spain that have done wonders in this sector, while also exploring the medium- to-long-term potential of concentrating solar energy, which the EU Commission is backing to the hilt and which can be tapped so easily from nearby North African states once it starts coming on stream.
Although waste-to-energy is being used extensively overseas, the sad experience of the Marsa incinerator does not augur well for the future in this area. As many experts have long pointed out, waste-to-energy, although important as a resource area, depends heavily on the professional manner in which it is run, on the equipment used, the people running it and the economics of it all as well as on the extent of effective real-time monitoring by environmental agencies and strict compliance with European legislation. Alas, in Malta unless we have a truly effective separate environmental agency with as much clout as the planning side of Mepa, such concerns will remain unaddressed. So big are the vested interests concerned.
In Malta, we either simply flout laws in place or else ask for further derogation from EU limits on air pollution for particulate matter, as concerned Sliema residents are likely to find out at their own health's expense. Even more so at a delicate moment when the government should have been pushing forward a competent air quality improvement plan and a holistic traffic management plan.
In Malta, many a policy or measure tends to be driven by expedience rather than conscience.
We seem more interested in buying maximum time for certain beneficiaries rather than in showing the genuine concern that one expects about the ordinary citizen's quality of health and environmental health.
I sincerely hope that in the new decade there will be more synergy between the government and the corporate sector as we encourage businesses to become more energy efficient and innovative. We need to show a true and genuine commitment that we believe in and aspire to eventually become a low-carbon economy.
Copenhagen might have left a sour taste in many a mouth but we should not belittle in any way what Denmark itself is doing in the energy and climate sectors. Danish firms have been pushed away from carbon and pulled into environmental innovation without the country's economy being put at any competitive disadvantage.
In order to succeed we need to think forward all the time and not get stuck in the past.
The fact that the EU will be having its own Commissioner for Climate is strong evidence that it intends to bring climate change into the mainstream in all of the Commission's policies.
Only time will tell if we, as Maltese and Europeans, really and truly believe that protecting our environment, ensuring a high quality of life for us all and halting the loss of biodiversity are considered by us as indispensable objectives and real challenges in themselves. We still have to give proof as to how central is our commitment to greening our economy through massive investments in clean energy.
Not to sound negative, let us just say that there might not be good reason to be optimistic but that there should be plenty of cause for hope!
Mr Brincat is a Labour member of Parliament
brincat.leo@gmail.com, www.leobrincat.com