Air pollution is an issue that affects all of us and disproportionately affects those who are most vulnerable.

The World Health Organisation has warned that practically all the air we breathe is polluted and that it is killing around seven million people worldwide every year.

Monitoring pollution levels is not just of interest to worried environmentalists but a priority for the health authorities responsible for promoting good public health strategies.

So, it is crucial to ask: What can be done to tackle air pollution effectively?

The EU has set ambitious targets for member states to reduce greenhouse emissions and eventually become carbon neutral by 2050. Malta is expected to miss this target substantially as little progress is being made in dealing with air pollution.

According to Eurostat, Malta’s greenhouse emissions have increased by almost eight per cent in the second quarter of this year compared to the same period in 2022.

The silver lining of this statistic is that Malta’s per capita emissions remain among the lowest in Europe.

A 2018 study found that Malta’s most significant air pollutants are traffic, Saharan dust, climate and sea salt.

Of course, not much can be done to reduce the impact of natural phenomena on the air quality we breathe. But we can certainly do much more to reduce the man-made threats to the air we breathe.

Some too easily accept the ever-increasing traffic on our roads as the price we must pay for economic growth. This fatalistic attitude betrays the lack of leadership in those responsible for ensuring that people’s well-being is not sacrificed on the altar of GDP growth.

So far, the government’s efforts to reduce the impact of ever-increasing traffic on our roads with the consequential effects on people’s health and general well-being have produced mediocre results.

Improvements in the road network, the introduction of free public transport and schemes to scrap old cars and encourage investment in electric vehicles have not had the desired effect.

This failure is further evidenced by the fact that the number of vehicles on our roads keeps increasing every day with no credible attempt to reduce the use of cars.

More commuters are now using private taxis more often as the public transport system continues to be inefficient.

The absence of a comprehensive plan to deal with the effects of overpopulation is undoubtedly one of the reasons behind the ever-increasing problem of deteriorating air quality. Knee-jerk reactions like banning clean personal transport facilities offered by e-scooter service providers are no substitute for a clear strategy to reduce traffic on our roads.  

An economic model based on boosting production through the massive importation of labour is a reality that policymakers continue to promote even if they often wax lyrical on the importance of investing in higher added-value economic activities.

The threats to our health due to deteriorating air quality will not be resolved by magic thinking, such as promising to reduce traffic by continuing to improve the road network or investing in a metro or tram system.

It can only be addressed by a truthful debate on how population growth will be controlled, determining the cost of this change in economic direction and quantifying the benefits that can be reaped by protecting people from avoidable risks.