The amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere from Europe as a result of fuel combustion has decreased since 1990, but Malta remains an exception, according to an International Energy Agency report.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a naturally occurring gas – it is also produced through respiration – but industrialisation has increased emissions of the greenhouse gas significantly, and it is a key contributor to manmade climate change.
In 2010, the EU committed itself to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by at least 20% – compared to 1990 levels – by 2020, a target which, in some areas, was complicated by the fact that emissions had already increased considerably since 1990.
Meeting this target, for Malta, meant slashing its carbon dioxide emissions by half. But this drastic decrease has not yet started to happen: according to Eurostat estimates issued last month, Malta was one of only four EU member states to see their CO2 emissions increase between 2011 and 2012. Proportionally, the estimated increase of 6.3% is also the highest in the EU, and by a considerable margin.
An improvement is likely to be recorded this year, as the new Delimara power plant extension has increased the efficiency of Malta’s electricity generation.
Two other developments could reduce emissions from electricity generation even further in the near future: the electricity interconnector between Malta and Sicily, and the government’s plans to convert the Delimara extension to gas and to set up another, privately-built gas-powered plant adjacent to it.
The IEA report itself compares data ranging from 1971 to 2010, and was compiled specifically for delegations at the 2012 Climate Change Conference in Doha, and its highlights have now been made public.
While CO2 emissions have decreased in Europe since 1990, this has not been the case in most of the world – especially where developing countries are concerned. And the IEA is warning that the world is not on track to limit the global temperature increase to 2°C over the pre-industrial average, a point beyond which, it is feared, could lead to catastrophic consequences.
“Climate change has quite frankly slipped to the back burner of policy priorities. But the problem is not going away – quite the opposite,” IEA director Maria van der Hoeven said yesterday.
The IEA predicts that electricity demand in 2035 will be more than 70% higher than today, due to a rapid growth in income and population in developing countries, the growth of electricity-driven industrial processes and the continuing increase in the number of electrical devices used in homes and commercial buildings.
The agency thus suggests four measures to help keep climate change in check. The most important, which would account for nearly half the emissions reduction, would be targeted energy efficiency in buildings, industry and transport.
It also recommends limiting the construction and use of the least-efficient coal power plants, actions to halve methane – another important greenhouse gas – and phasing out subsidies on fossil fuel consumption.
Actions to halve expected methane releases into the atmosphere from the upstream oil and gas industry in 2020 provide 18% of the savings.
Implementing a partial phase-out of fossil fuel consumption subsidies accounts for 12% of the reduction in emissions and supports efficiency efforts.
The IEA’s findings
The report shows that between 2009 and 2010, CO2 emissions increased in every continent with the exception of Africa, where a modest 0.1% decrease was recorded. Global emissions had declined in 2009, in the wake of a global economic crisis, but increased by 4.6% in 2010.
Between 1990 and 2010, Malta’s CO2 emissions increased by 13.6% while those in the EU fell by 10.2%.
Nevertheless, CO2 emissions per capita actually decreased by 5.6% during that time, to 5.99 tonnes per person per year. While the per capita decrease is slower than that of the EU’s 14.8%, Malta’s emissions per capita remain lower than in most EU countries, where the average amount of annual CO2 emissions per person was 7.2 tonnes.
The global average, in 2010, stood at 4.44 tonnes per person per year, up from 3.98 tonnes in 1990.
The most populous country, China, was the source of 24% of the world’s CO2 emissions in 2010: its population is 20% of the world’s total. The US, whose population is roughly 5% of the world’s total, generated 18% of the world’s CO2 emissions from fuel combustion, while India, which houses a sixth of the world’s population, was only responsible for just over 5% of global CO2 emissions, although its share is increasing steadily.
Fuel combustion across the world ultimately released 30,276.1 million tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere in 2010: Malta’s own contribution was around 2.5 million tonnes.
The production of electricity accounted for 41.2% of the total, but this proportion surpassed 70% in Malta, which is almost-entirely dependent on fossil fuels for the generation of electricity.
Countries’ vastly-different situations produce some bizarre comparisons: Malta, for instance, actually releases more CO2 to generate its electricity than Ethiopia – whose population exceeds 80 million, but which has invested heavily in hydroelectricity – does.
Transport accounted for 22.3% of the world’s total emissions – road transport alone for 16.4% – whereas manufacturing, industry and construction were responsible for 20.4%.
Transport emissions accounted for a comparable share of Maltese emissions, but the direct contribution of manufacturing, industry and construction was negligible: although, of course, this does not account for the sectors’ heavy energy consumption.