Rival MEPs join forces to lobby EU over carbon charges impacting islands
Countries like Malta and Cyprus are disproportionately impacted by climate change obligations, Bajada and Agius argue
Labour MEP Thomas Bajada and Nationalist Party MEP Peter Agius have joined forces to petition the European Commission to address the disproportionate impact the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) on island economies.
The MEPs want the Commission to include an "island clause" to ETS legislation that would be intended to protect islands like Malta, which are disproportionally impacted by the EU's ETS system.
The ETS is the EU’s main climate policy tool, designed to cut greenhouse gas emissions by making companies pay for the carbon they produce. It works by requiring industries, airlines and shipping firms to buy permits for their emissions, with costs often passed on to consumers.
In a letter addressed to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the two MEPs, together with MEPs from Italy and Cyprus, argue that island nations are unfairly affected by the scheme, since they depend heavily on sea and air transport.
“Freight operators and logistics associations warn that, once fully phased in, ETS-related surcharges could significantly increase the cost of journeys along the main “motorways of the sea”, with direct repercussions for hauliers, shipowners, and ultimately consumers.”
The letter quotes the Maltese Association of Tractor and Trailer Operators, which in a recent statement said ETS and fuel surcharge applied to a single round-trip trailer on the Genoa–Malta–Genoa sea route now amounts to €734.40.
“Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Malta estimates that ETS aviation fees alone resulted in an €88 million setback to the Maltese economy in 2024, even before the scheduled removal of free airline allowances in 2026.”
Such costs, the signatories argue, will ultimately be passed onto consumers in the form of more expensive imported goods and pricier airline tickets.
“The indiscriminate application of existing ETS rules to islands imposes a direct economic, social, and territorial disadvantage on island communities, which are inherently dependent on longer and more complex transport links due to their geography.”
Citing Article 174 of the EU Treaty, which obliges the European Commission to address the economic, social and territorial disadvantages of islands, the MEPs called for an ‘island clause’ to be added to the ETS.
Such a clause would "provide” for a proportionately reduced application of ETS allowance obligations to air and maritime connectivity for island populations.