Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1447299
NEWS 4 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 2 FEBRUARY 2022 JAMES DEBONO A coalition of major European NGOs, in- cluding Friends of the Earth Europe and Greenpeace, is calling on MEPs to reject EU funding for 30 fossil fuel projects – including a proposed hydrogen-ready gas pipeline linking Malta to Sicily. The list of projects eligible for EU fund- ing, including the Melite pipeline, will be up for discussion and voting in the ITRE committee, the European Parliament's committee on industry, tomorrow. The list of projects will be voted upon by all MEPs in the first week of March. If rejected, the funding list will go back to the Commission's drawing board. Labour MEP Josianne Cutajar sits on the ITRE committee. The NGOs want funding to be limited to projects that are in line with EU legal commitments under the Paris Agreement and European Green Deal, namely "elec- tricity projects which can deliver renewa- ble and clean energy". Pipeline plans: Malta studying 'availabil- ity' of hydrogen from Sicily NGOs fear that funding gas infrastruc- ture will perpetuate a dependence on fossil fuels at a time when Europe is com- mitted to decarbonise its economy in line with its international commitments. "Rolling out additional, unnecessary fos- sil fuel infrastructure is not aligned with the aim of the European Green Deal, and risks creating stranded assets and locking Europe further into a fossil fuel future," Suzanne Mass, climate campaigner at Friends of the Earth Malta, told MaltaTo- day. The Maltese gas pipeline was originally excluded from the Connecting Europe Facility funding in both 2020 and 2021. But it was reinserted in a new list where it was rebranded as a 'hydrogen ready' pipe- line, thanks to a derogation from the orig- inal rules as agreed by EU energy minis- ters. Instead the gas pipeline will be built so as to also transport hydrogen, with the European Commission agreeing to allow "blending projects" during a transitional period that ends in 2029. Most hydrogen is already currently produced using fossil fuels, which al- so contribute to global warming. But "green hydrogen" can also be produced using renewable energy through elec- trolysis: electricity that comes from re- newable energy sources, which splits wa- ter into hydrogen and oxygen. Still, costs for this energy method are prohibitive, wth green hydrogen representing a very small fraction (1%-5%) of global hydro- gen production. Environmentalists also fear that 'hy- brids' that use greenhouse gases like methane or processes like biomass, would simply prolong fossil fuel dependency. Malta's own decarbonisation plan, which envisages an increased use of nat- ural gas between 2020 and 2030, identi- fies green hydrogen as a "potential future source of energy", with current plants ret- rofitted for this source. NGOs claim the political agreement which overruled the exclusion of gas pro- jects, was also drafted under outdated criteria adopted prior to the Paris Agree- ment and the European Green Deal. Pipelines have murder and corruption links – NGOs The major concern of the NGOs is that the list of funded projects does not fully exclude fossil gas projects and allows not only indirect support for fossil fuel pro- jects "through blending", but also direct support for two significant fossil gas pro- jects – namely Melite, and the East-Med pipeline (linking Cyprus to Greece). But the NGOs also refer to Yorgen Fenech, the alleged mastermind of the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia, and his role in Electrogas which is con- tractually eligible for compensation when and if the pipeleline is completed. The NGOs claim that both the Malta and Cyprus pipelines "have links to cor- ruption, political tensions, human right violations and in the case of Melite, have murder accusations attached to them." The Melite pipeline is entirely govern- ment owned and does not include any private shareholding. But its completion would trigger a multi-million euro payout to Electrogas as compensation for termi- nating the gas supply agreement. What will happen if pipeline funding is rejected The motion presented by MEPs calls on the EU Commission to propose a new list of projects eligible for funding, in line with EU law and climate commitments no later than June 2022 in recognition of the fact that an extensive delay is not op- timal. This deadline is possible to achieve, as the selection process would not need to start again from scratch. The green NGOs claim that a rejection of the fifth PCI (projects of common in- terest) list would immediately send a "strong message" to the European Com- mission that European decision-makers plan to support the Green Deal "not just with words but in practice". Investors would also know that gas plants are likely to lose their priority sta- tus with the updated list, "a considera- tion that cannot be underestimated," the NGO say. Europe is suffering from an unprece- dented rise in energy prices, a problem which the NGOs claim is aggravated by reliance on fossil gas. "The reality of this crisis has exacerbated energy poverty for many across Europe and will continue to do so if we cannot treat the root of the problem. Continuing to rely on imported fossil fuels under the flimsy argument of energy security is not working for Euro- pean Citizens". NGOs say eliminating dependency on fossil fuels means investing and prior- itising renewable solutions that provide clean, good quality energy to those in need. The coalition of NGOs includes Food & Water Action Europe, Friends of the Earth Europe, CEE Bankwatch, Gastiv- ists, and Greenpeace. Green NGOs say Malta pipeline funding should be refused MATTHEW AGIUS A petition with over 200,000 signatures has been presented to the European Commissioner for Values and Transpar- ency, Vera Jourová calling for an EU di- rective against SLAPP suits. The petition was presented by rep- resentatives of the Coalition Against SLAPPs in Europe (CASE) and two in- dividuals affected by SLAPP suits. The petition was launched in July 2021 and calls on the European Commission to propose an anti-SLAPP directive that effectively protects all those plagued by litigation across the EU. CASE presented the call by more than 200,000 people for strong legal safe- guards against SLAPPS to Vice Presi- dent Jourová on the heels of the pub- lic consultation that the Commission launched to map the SLAPP phenom- enon. More than 170 civil society groups from across Europe joined the call, in- cluding several Maltese NGOs inspired by the experience of murdered journal- ist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who faced multiple SLAPPs now inherited by her family. The 146 submissions by stakeholders were backed by the voices of hundreds of thousands of people across Europe who want the EU to end the abuse of the justice system via SLAPPs. In its submission to the Commis- sion's consultation, CASE argued that any measures introduced by the Com- mission must address the full scale of the problem - encompassing both cross-border and domestic SLAPPs. The Commission is set to present an EU-wide anti-SLAPP initiative on 23 March. Brussels receives 200,000-strong petition calling for EU anti-SLAPP law