Friends of the Earth Malta today welcomes the announcement by government on its intentions to proceed with the process to introduce a climate change bill. We believe that this is the way forward to make sure that the current, and subsequent, governments are committed to act on the pressing issue of climate change.

FoE Malta hopes that this announcement will be the first step in the right direction, following the previous attempt by then opposition MP Leo Brincat who in 2008 tabled a private member bill which was eventually shot down by government. Friends of the Earth Malta is glad to note that, now in his position as minister responsible for Sustainable Development, the Environment and Climate change, Hon. Brincat is pushing forward for this law to finally become a reality.

Martin Galea De Giovanni from Friends of the Earth Malta continues: “We hope that this process will lead to strong climate change legislation, with clear targets and ambitions in order achieve a low-carbon Malta. The Maltese government will already be making history by being one of the few EU member states to enact such legislation, but our appeal is that this should be one of the strongest bills in the member states.”

Since 2007, Friends of the Earth groups in 16 European countries including Malta have been asking governments to commit to annual cuts in climate changing emissions as part of the European Big Ask. The European ‘Big Ask’ campaign brings together Friends of the Earth groups in countries across Europe all with the same big ask – that their governments commit to reduce carbon emissions, year on year, every year. The campaign calls for cuts in emissions equal to a reduction of EU-wide domestic emissions of at least 40 per cent, without offsetting, by 2020.