Friends of the Earth (FOE) has called for the mandatory installation of solar water heaters and panels on new buildings.
Launching a policy paper on climate change yesterday, FOE said a long-term plan was required to address Malta's social, economic and environmental sustainability through legal enforcement.
The policy paper also calls for incentives empowering citizens to invest in energy efficient appliances as well as a national initiative to install solar water heaters and panels on roofs of public buildings.
Meanwhile, Alternattiva Demokratika yesterday urged the public to send a letter to local authorities calling on them to take an active role in climate change negotiations currently underway in Poland.
The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Poznan which kicked off last Monday, is aimed at finalising proposals for its 2009 Copenhagen meeting, during which a political agreement on climate change is expected to be hammered out.
Speaking during a press conference held in Freedom Square, Valletta, AD chairman Arnold Cassola encouraged citizens to press local authorities to ensure that legislation aimed at reducing Co2 emissions is firm enough to meet the 30 per cent reduction the EU needs to achieve by 2020.
Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi's vote, Prof. Cassola stressed, is as strong as that of any other nation leader, such as Italy's Silvio Berlusconi, or Germany's Angela Merkel, whom he insisted were standing in the way of positive negotiations.
In the negotiations, Malta should show dignity and apply pressure to influence the final decisions in favour of reducing Co2 emissions, taking the lead on climate change, Prof. Cassola said.
Referring to the climate change conference currently underway in Poznan German Green MEP Michael Cramer said that the recent negotiation agreements "were not good."
Mr Cramer said that 80 per cent of EU citizens were currently living in places with high population concentrations and Co2 emissions. Thirty per cent of these emissions, he said, came from the transport sector.
He urged the reorganisation of the Maltese transport system to focus more on alternative and cleaner means of transportation. Cycling should also be encouraged. "We only can if we want to," he said.