The government should scrap its plans to construct a gas pipeline between Malta and Sicily and refocus its planned investments on renewable energy sources, green NGO Friends of the Earth Malta has said.

In a report about Malta’s energy strategy and its impact on the climate, FOE recommended that the government make tangible efforts to move the country’s energy dependence away from fossil fuels, starting by putting a stop to fossil fuel subsidies.

Let's ensure a future for our country and planet, our only home- Friends of the Earth

The group said it was time to “act like your house is on fire”, noting that while Malta issued a climate emergency in 2019, things have remained business as usual since then.

“We need bold and ambitious climate policy to reduce our carbon emissions and ensure we live within the planetary boundaries,” the report said.

“Malta may be small but was actually the country that first tabled the issue of climate change on the political agenda at the United Nations in 1988. Let’s live up to that legacy and ensure a future for our country and planet, our only home.”

'Don't lock Malta in a fossil fuel future'

In their recommendations, the FOE said that plans for the pipeline should be suspended and the roughly €400 million in taxpayer money should instead be invested in the production of renewable energy to speed up the country’s green transition.

“The proposed Melita TransGas pipeline would lock Malta in a fossil fuel future and signify a climate-incompatible investment, leading to stranded assets,” they said.

The construction of the pipeline would also have an impact on the posidonia beds around Delimara. The seagrass, they said, is capable of capturing up to 15 times the amount of carbon dioxide that a rainforest is capable of and that this should be protected as a carbon sink, rather than be destroyed by the infrastructure required for the pipeline.

They added that while gas is promoted as a “transition fuel”, as it creates lower carbon emissions than heavy fuel oil, when taking methane leakages along the LNG supply chain into account, Malta appears to be underestimating the real cost of greenhouse gas emissions created by the use of gas.

The FOE said that promoting the pipeline as a solution to ending gas isolation is a “false solution” to increasing Malta’s energy security.

“To increase energy security, we need to diversify energy sources, by moving away from fossil fuels and investing in local renewable energy production, instead of investing in the diversification of gas supplies.”

Public money should be spent on renewables, such as solar and wind energy, as well as energy savings and community energy.

Efforts should also be made to shift away from car dependence and the fuel consumption of private vehicles and move towards sustainable modes of public transport and active mobility.