Just as Malta has formally accepted to commit itself to limit or reduce greenhouse gas emissions within a set period, a European Commission report has said that the island is likely to fail to meet binding emissions targets by 2020. This does not appear to be a good start. Even though the government may have all the good intentions to bring down the emissions levels, the results obtained so far are below expectations.
The Commission’s Third Report on the State of the Energy Union recognises the significant progress made to increase renewable energy, particularly through PVs on private homes, but says that transport emissions have run out of control and reversed the progress made in the energy sector.
The government could have foreseen this but was considerably slow in thinking about improving the country’s road network, now creaking badly under the weight of a massive volume of cars that is constantly increasing. Unless the government and the transport authority start taking more effective measures now to bring down emissions levels, the problem is likely to get worse.
The government recently an-nounced it had signed the instrument of ratification of the Doha Amendment to the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. This is not a thrilling subject to most, but it is nonetheless a very important one in view of the impact carbon dioxide emissions have on climate change.
The Doha Amendment to the Kyoto Protocol aims to reduce emissions by at least 18 per cent below 1990 levels in the commitment period between 2013 and 2020. How is Malta’s commitment shaping up? Data for last year show that the target was missed by a 16-percentage-point margin, and according to the projection for 2020, the targets are expected to be missed by an 11 percentage point.
Waste is a major problem, but other heavy contributors to the rising levels are the continued increase in transport pollution and a strong rise in hydrofluorocarbon emissions. The report’s verdict on Malta is that, while its national transport strategy and transport master plan included measures to rationalise the use of private vehicles, promote alternative mobility solutions and make more efficient use of multi-modal and collective transport systems, these appeared not to be enough.
Taking heavy polluting cars off the road, restricting the importation of second-hand cars having high emission levels and making an aggressive effort to increase the number of electric cars are measures that can all help reduce emissions levels.
However, progress in the efforts to have more electric cars on the road has so far been very slow.
Traffic congestion is a heavy contributor as well, logging up to over 21 per cent of the greenhouse emissions. Transport emissions are considered particularly severe in Malta because of the high car dependency and old car fleet.
A more reliable public transport system and urgent solutions to traffic congestion will also go a long way towards reducing the emissions levels.
This is a Times of Malta print editorial