Last Wednesday, the Nationalist Party took a very bold initiative in Parliament. Both before and during the perceived lull in political activity during the parliamentary summer recess we consulted, we researched and we decided.

We believe Malta should declare a climate emergency and with that, a number of trenchant conclusions and actions need to be undertaken with vim and vigour as one country.

In the parliamentary motion, the PN is not only proposing the declaration of a climate emergency but also for legally binding air quality targets and thresholds to be achieved by 2030 and 2050.

To this end we are calling for the setting up of a permanent Parliamentary Committee for Climate Emergency together with the appointment of a person of stature and gravitas, enjoying the trust of both sides of the House, to oversee, report on and scrutinise the ongoing work to reach those legally established climate change targets.

The parliamentary committee would be able to take climate change initiatives, publish reports following legal, technical and scientific advice, invite and welcome civil society to meetings and propose action to the House of Representatives.

Bold? Yes. Daring? Yes. A tall order? Yes. Doable? Yes. Unavoidable? Yes.

Malta has repeatedly fallen short of its EU air pollution targets. The worst culprit in this regard is transport pollution, both land and maritime.

Take the cruise line industry. Studies show that Europe’s worst-polluting cruise ships will make no fewer than 122 port calls in Malta this year. These include ships without SCR catalytic systems or particulate filters to reduce air pollution and ships that use heavy fuel oil.

We believe that with cast iron will, genuine commitment and a long-term plan, this can be addressed so as to reduce air pollution and safeguard this crucial industry for Malta.

It’s a scientific truth that pollution generated by cruise ships in our ports is around 148 times higher than the pollution generated by all the vehicles in our streets, so much so that the air pollution in the Grand Harbour region alone (where almost a third of the country’s population resides) is estimated to be 10 times higher than the most traffic-heavy street in Malta. To put this in perspective, it is estimated that 283,000 vehicles generate 3.4 tons of sulphur oxide, while 83 cruise liners which visited Malta last year generated 502.8 tons.

This comes at a cost.

It’s a scientific truth that pollution generated by cruise ships in our ports is around 148 times higher than the pollution generated by all the vehicles in our streets

Air pollution in Malta is estimated by the EU to cost over €182 million in healthcare expenses (around €2 million on asthma treatment alone) and 44,000 days of lost work due to avoidable respiratory diseases.

And the cost isn’t only financial. It also impacts our quality of life, so much so that more people are dying in Malta due to air pollution than due to smoking, with around five deaths a week caused by respiratory illnesses or its complications.

Let us be clear. This is only one of the critical issues that need to be addressed with a serious and long-term national plan if we really want to bequeath a better environment. And we can do this even while – and this is imperative – safeguarding and promoting the precious nature of the shipping industry to Malta, including by linking berthed ships to the electricity grid.

Once this is done in the Baltic Sea, North Sea and North America where Emission Control Areas (ECAs) have been declared, we also can, and ought to, be the leaders by declaring Malta as an ECA and work for all the Mediterranean to be declared as such.

What is an ECA? Basically sea areas in which stricter controls were established to minimise airborne emissions from ships as defined by the 1997 Marpol Protocol (Marpol is short for maritime pollution and is one of the most important international marine environmental conventions in an effort to minimise pollution of the oceans and seas, including dumping, oil and air pollution).

As of 2011 there were four existing ECAs: the Baltic Sea, the North Sea, the North American ECA and the US Caribbean. Has it stopped cruise liners visiting the Baltics (where 79 different cruise ships owned by 42 operators sail on average during the cruising season) or the North Sea?

No.

Last year alone, Copenhagen and Talinn each had more than 343 cruise ship calls and this is increasing annually; Helsinki had 285, Stockholm had 267, while in the North Sea (whose shipping lanes are among the busiest in the world) Amsterdam got 180 calls, Hamburg more than 212 and Rotterdam is the busiest port in Europe.

Incidentally, Rotterdam, Antwerp and Hamburg maintained their positions as Europe’s top three ports in 2017, both in terms of the gross weight of goods handled and in terms of the volume of containers handled in the ports. All of these ports are ECAs.

Coupled with this, the new European Commission President has declared that it wants to reduce CO2 emissions by 50 per cent by 2030.  Now don’t forget, Malta is lagging already far behind the EU’s targets for 2020, that is a 20 per cent (40 per cent by 2030) cut in greenhouse gas emissions compared with 1990, 20 per cent of total energy consumption from renewable energy and a 20 per cent increase in energy efficiency.

Europe is aiming to become the world’s first climate neutral continent by 2050.

The point of no return beckons.

Jason Azzopardi is Shadow Minister for the Environment and Maritime Affairs.

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