Friends of the Earth Malta is appealing to all MPs to give their full support towards having a Climate Change Bill. This appeal comes ahead of the vote to be taken in Parliament on Thursday 15th January. This initiative is also being supported by BirdLife Malta, Din L-Art Helwa, Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar (FAA), GAIA Foundation, Light Pollution Awareness Group, Moviment Graffitti, Nature Trust Malta and Zminijietna.
Climate change is considered to be one of the most pressing concerns that will be faced by our country and the EU within the next 5 to 10 years. According to recent statistics the Maltese electorate is worried about escalating fuel and relative costs such as energy prices and an increase in surcharge rates. A legislation committing the country to a sustainability plan that tackles emissions and renewable energy will have to define strict parameters if Malta is to reach the targets set by EU regulations.
Friends of the Earth Malta is proposing that through the integration of environmentally friendly systems of transport and energy, CO2 emissions are reduced through legally binding commitments to cut emissions year-on-year. These cuts should be equal to at least a 30 percent reduction of EU-wide domestic emissions by 2020 and 90 percent by 2050. FoE Malta has been collecting signatures for a petition since February 2008 in order to make this a possibility and is thus in full support of the Climate Change Bill as proposed by Hon. Leo Brincat during the 9th October parliament session.
Over 2000 letters have also been sent by concerned citizens to all members of parliament asking them to commit their support to the new legislation in favour of a strong law tackling climate change. By supporting and commit in legislating the bill, Malta’s politicians will be taking the lead and answering the call for a groundbreaking piece of legislation that all political parties should be proud of. The U.K and Finland have already made this important step, whilst other countries such as Ireland, Austria and Belgium are in the process of enacting such legislation.
Will Malta be one of the first countries to have a climate change bill or will it linger on until it ends up becoming one of the few with no legally binding strategy? Action on Climate Change will not be brought about simply by counting the number of reports available; no matter how good they are. The reality is that both reports and legally binding strategies are required in order to put our country on a path of sustainable energy consumption.