The Maltese expression is-saħħa kollox (health is everything) is a truism.
Airborne pollution is a problem because it is a threat to the health of people and the environment in general.
The UN Environment Programme has gone on record to say that airborne pollutants are responsible for about one third of deaths from stroke, chronic respiratory disease and lung cancer, as well as one quarter of deaths from heart attack, worldwide.
Air pollution is also fundamentally altering our climate with profound impacts on the health of the planet. Airborne pollution is not just toxic gasses but also includes particulate matter and dust.
Studies show that nine million people die prematurely from pollution every year. In Malta, this number is estimated at 600. The World Health Organisation estimates that 23 per cent of all deaths worldwide are due to environmental risks – that is one in five or about two a day for Malta.
The sources of airborne pollution in the Maltese islands are many, as are the sources of air pollution in territorial waters that the wind carries to our shores.
These include cruise liners and passenger ferries, cargo and tanker ships in harbours, anchored offshore and sailing to and from the islands; tens of thousands of ships crossing the Sicily-Malta channel; tens of thousands of aircraft landing, taking off and flying past; the construction industry; motor vehicles; factories and the power station.
The government, last month, embarked on a project to provide shore-side electricity for cruise liners and roll-on roll-off vessels while in the Grand Harbour. This should cut emissions from this source by 90 per cent.
This is a most commendable initiative but it is far from enough. Malta has paid around €2 million to purchase excess emission allocation credits from other EU states for its failure to meet EU emission targets over the last decade.
A couple of hundred thousand euros annually, as a penalty for a polluting country, is hardly dissuasive.
European NGO Transport & Environment has released an unpublished EU study revealing that a global agreement called ‘Corsia’, adopted in 2016 through the UN Aviation Agency, designed to tackle airline emissions, could actually undermine Europe’s climate efforts and is “unlikely to materially alter” the climate impact of air travel.
The report also points out that carbon offsets are not priced high enough to deter airlines from increasing their emissions. The setting of emissions targets at too low a level has created an excess of supply of credits over demand, lowering the prices of carbon offsets.
This is making it economically viable for polluting airlines to buy their way out of their infringements. The EU has so far endorsed the Corsia scheme.
The hope of a green recovery is being thwarted at both EU and local level.
Policymakers are using green spin as a smoke screen while they continue to pursue their growth policies powered by fossil fuels.
Fossil fuel-induced greenhouse gas emissions are causing the warming and acidification of the Mediterranean Sea as well as sea oxygen loss. This is, in turn, impacting fish populations and sea currents. Greenhouse gases are also causing atmospheric warming that is then creating extreme weather conditions and climate change.
Climate change is a main contributor to animal and plant biodiversity losses.
Air pollution is not only affecting peoples’ health, it is also a serious threat to human survival.
There is also little doubt that polluted air impairs peoples’ immune response to illness.
Clean air should, therefore, be central to the health policy of any Maltese government. The harbour project is a good start but it is only that, a beginning.