Sixteen local organisations have issued a joint press release criticising the “inaction, irresponsibility and inconsistency in the Government’s approach to climate change.”

They argued that “precious time has been wasted by past and present policy-makers while repeatedly missing targets on greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy production, and waste management.”

“This is now costing us our quality of life, and will increasingly continue to do so for future generations in Malta,” they said.

The recently published Sixth Assessment Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) paints a damning outlook on the world as a result of decades of inaction in the face of human-induced climate change, the statement said.

The report projects intense desertification and increased fire risk in the Mediterranean by 2050 unless we keep global warming below 2°C, a legal commitment governments made in The Paris Agreement in 2015 but are failing to keep. This summer is presenting a foretaste of these projections.

The organisations stated that.Back in 2019, the Maltese parliament declared a climate emergency, “but to no tangible end.”

They added that “Ministers occupy themselves with cosmetic projects and PR stunts while missing previously set targets by a mile. On 12th August, Minister Farrugia even declared down-negotiating Malta’s target emission reduction from 36% by 2030 to 19%.”

The 16 organisations stressed that “this not only betrays a stark lack of ambition, but demonstrates an under-appreciation of the urgency of the situation. Rather than tackling ultimate causes, the Government launches expensive projects of questionable intentions and doubtful results.”

“High maintenance “carbon neutral” gimmicks, whose carbon costs of production and upkeep are not factored in, take the place of serious environment conservation and restoration – rewilding is more effective at climate change mitigation,” they said.

They went on to say that the Government keeps pushing an approach based on “unsustainable economic growth instead of a fair distribution of wealth in a “post-growth” world, at great environmental and social costs. This is the approach that led us to a climate catastrophe in the first place and presents a vicious cycle.”

The organisations argued that “using our air, land and sea resources to bolster the profits of big business is leading to widening inequalities and severe social hardships that are bound to worsen due to climate change.”

“To add insult to injury, the Government is simultaneously allowing the activities most damaging to the local climate and biodiversity to continue and flourish unhindered; cementing private car dependency, promoting over-construction which accentuates the urban heat island effect and uses unsustainable materials (cement production accounts for 27% of global CO2 emissions), authorising rampant soil sealing by private and public ventures, not seriously addressing water scarcity and food security issues due to worsen, jeopardising the natural terrestrial and marine environments which could act as a carbon sink, and making no real commitment to halt biodiversity loss,” they said.

They also highlighted the fact that there is no plan to address inevitable sea level rise, which would drown coastal infrastructure, shorelines, and result in the final destruction of our mean sea level water table in the lifetime of children alive today.

“Water security plans are still amorphous, and the farming community is being actively crushed by bad policy decisions as food security concerns mount.”

While Malta’s role in global emissions may be “insignificant, it is no excuse to avoid launching serious mitigation and adaptation measures that ensure some quality of life for current and future generations living on the Maltese Islands,” they said.

The organisations added that, “climate policy should be at the core of every decision being made for the future of our country, as it addresses systemic concerns that have led to this dire situation.”

They concluded by saying that “the current greenwashing and a “business as usual” attitude points to poor governance unwilling to recognise the challenges ahead. We assert that we are holding past and current decision makers personally responsible for the tangible deterioration of our livelihood and natural heritage by their inaction.”

The Statement is endorsed by:

ACT Malta

Attard Residents Environmental Network (AREN)

BirdLife Malta

Din l-Art Helwa

Extinction Rebellion Malta

Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar

Friends of the Earth Malta

MaYA Foundation

Moviment Graffitti

Nature Trust Malta

ORCA Malta

Rota

The Archaeological Society Malta

The Biological Conservation Research Foundation, BICREF

The ‘Grow 10 Trees’ Project

The Ramblers’ Association of Malta

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