Are Malta's greenhouse gas emissions rising?
Greenhouse gases (GHGs) trap heat within the atmosphere, leading to a rise in average global atmospheric temperature. Latest results indicate that much of the observed global warming in recent decades can be attributed to GHG emissions from human activities.[1]
The energy sector is the major contributor to Malta's GHG emissions, with a share of almost 83 per cent [2] of gross national emissions in 2006.
This is followed by the waste sector, which, for the same year, contributed a share of 12.3 per cent of the overall emissions.[3]
While GHG emissions increased by 45 per cent between 1990 and 2006, they decreased by 0.3 per cent between 2005 and 2006 from 3,191.4Gg Gigagrams (Gg) to 3,182.4Gg respectively. Per capita emissions in Malta rose from approximately 5.78 tonnes per capita in 1990 to 7.58 tonnes per capita in 2006 although they fell slightly between 2005 (where they stood at 7.62 tonnes per capita), and 2006.[4]
Despite this increase, however, in 2005 Malta still had a relatively low GHG emission rate per capita when compared to the EU average, which in that year stood at 10.9 tonnes per capita.[5]
Source: Mepa
Environmental tip: Promote, support, and adopt actions that limit GHG reductions in all sectors, such as energy and water conservation.
[1] IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). 2007. Climate Change 2007: The physical science Basis: Summary for Policy-makers, Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Paris, February 2007.
[2] As calculated in terms of CO2 equivalents for CO2, CH4, N2O, HFCs and SF6 'without' Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry.
[3] As calculated in terms of CO2 equivalents 'without' Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry.
[4] Mepa (Malta Environment and Planning Authority) 2008. National Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory Report for Malta 1990 - 2006. March 2008, MEPA, Floriana.
[5] EEA (European Environment Agency) 2007. Greenhouse Gas Emission Trends and Projections in Europe 2007. Tracking progress towards Kyoto targets. EEA Report No. 5/2007, EEA, Copenhagen.