As several reputable international reports it submitted attest, the science and economics behind climate change are far from settled, Azzjoni Nazzjonali told Climate Change Committee chairman David Spiteri Gingell.

AN therefore believes that it would be wiser to focus on energy conservation rather than indulge in grand schemes which might prove either unfeasible, futile or worse, detrimental to our economy and consequentially our standard of living. AN hoped that the government should not above all, use so called climate change as an excuse to burden society with yet more taxes.

Climate change is an inherent and constant component of the complex mechanisms that regulate our planet and studies have thus far failed to prove that the rate of change exceeds that of natural variability. Either way, considering that China alone commissions two new coal fired power stations every week, Malta’s carbon footprint will always remain so comparatively irrelevant that whatever the scientific conclusions will eventually turn out to be – introducing economically damaging measures to reduce local CO2 emissions would prove futile at best.

Azzjoni Nazzjonali is of the opinion that energy security should be of a higher priority than climate change for our authorities as it believes that it is this that will be the stiffest challenge facing our country and inevitably those citizens least able to afford it. Far wealthier countries like Britain are already planning how to mitigate what is being termed as “energy poverty”.

Hence AN recommended that while the local authorities should focus on simple but achievable and therefore effective policies that promote a sensible and responsible energy consumption culture. Urgency should be applied to identify and secure, viable and reliable energy sources.

In its electoral manifesto AN proposed several simple and effective policies including: New buildings should be certified for thermal insulation before being granted permits; Mopeds and motorcycles below 125CC should be tax exempt to encourage their uptake; Variable tariffs should be introduced to reduce peak demand by encouraging off peak electricity consumption.

Furthermore AN believes that the current subsidies on electricity and water usage should be capped or better still not given in the form of handouts but in the form of credits on energy efficient devices.

As with regards, to energy security, AN is of the opinion that from its studies, waste-to-energy and solar island plants were perhaps the best suited technological options available to us to lessen the dependency on fossil fuels. Hence the private sector should be encouraged to invest in these technologies. The government cannot always be expected to provide the solutions and this was an area, where the market can have a fundamental role to play.

Substantial EU funds were also available for research and development and it is inexcusable that the authorities have thus far failed to capitalise from them.