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4 NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 27 OCTOBER 2021 NEWS LUKE VELLA CUTTING carbon emissions by 19% by 2030 will be a challenging task, environment minister Aaron Farrugia admitted at a national conference on climate change. Malta was benefitting from a re- duced target for carbon cuts after it sought permission from the Eu- ropean Commission, which had set an EU target of 36% by 2030. Farrugia said half of Malta's CO2 emissions come from transport. Government's budget decision to introduce a generous electric ve- hicle grant of €12,000 was aimed at achieving price parity between internal combustion engine cars and electric ones, as soon as pos- sible. "Malta is the lowest emitter per capita compared to the other EU countries. I thank past adminis- trations that eliminated the use of coal, and now we have transi- tioned from heavy fuel oil to gas," Farrugia said. He was speaking at the climate change national conference, which he called a celebration for an ecological transition. "Although discussions had been held in parliament, no plans were presented to tackle climate change," Farrugia said. He said the Paris agreement in 2015 was a great achievement and that Malta had a target to become carbon neutral by 2050. "Time for discourse and romanticisation of the subject is over. Now after having held discussions with the experts, we have costed measures in place." He said that Malta is being as- sertive and will be present for the COP 26 (UN Climate Change Conference) next month. Targets should not burden low-income earners Simone Borg, Malta's ambassa- dor for climate change, said she was not afraid that Malta would not reach the targets, because there were legal consequences for not achieving the targets. "We have to make sure that the Maltese citizen is not burdened and that there is social cohesion, so that low-income earners are not negatively impacted," she said. Borg called the 2015 Paris agree- ment a "huge success" that es- tablished a specific science-based objective, using a bottom-up ap- proach. She admitted there were vari- ous challenges, with climate be- ing an intangible source and that science in the field was based on scenarios and predictions. "There is no world authority and it is very tricky to establish liability." Energy Minister Miriam Dalli said Malta was taking its climate change challenge seriously, as shown a few months ago through the launch of the Low Carbon De- velopment Strategy. Malta is now deploying electric charging pillars that complement the favourable rates for electricity and grants for such cars. "Targets are not met through single actions but through the diversification of sources. The second interconnec- tor will help balance the energy load and lead to a stronger elec- tric grid that increases efficiency," Dalli said. She welcomed the Planning Au- thority's permit for the hydrogen pipeline that would help the coun- try make a bolder step towards de- carbonisation. Individual responsibility Transport Minister Ian Borg stressed on the importance of individual action, starting from the choices one makes every day. "The most important word in 'cli- mate change' is 'change' – where every individual action will leave a mark," Borg argued. He mentioned four crucial measures for Malta's challenge of sustainability, among them the move to car electrification, where he stressed the factor of voluntary action in taking up initiatives such as the electric car grant scheme; and free public transport. "Those that believe that everyone will stop using the personal car, after next October are mistaken. 72% of the Maltese choose to user their car and this is the highest rate within the EU." A national transport survey over the next 12 months will gather ro- bust data to help government take decisions on bus vehicle numbers, routes and frequencies. "Climate change can be reversed by taking the audience and its cultures in consideration." The third pillar, Borg said, would be the investment in in- frastructure of active transport; a mass transport system, the met- ro, would be the country's fourth pillar. "The report and the studies that the country has put up for a national discussion were never an electoral gimmick. Will the pro- ject be sustainable or should we do the project at all costs? The discussion that the country needs is whether the major infrastruc- tural projects within twenty years would have failed." "Behavioural change is most es- sential, as the citizen has to make changes like the reduction of per- sonal car use." Metro is no electoral gimmick, Borg tells climate change conference Transport minister Ian Borg (Photo: James Bianchi / MaltaToday)