An inclusive Green Economy can benefit society and job creation stated the Minister for Sustainable Development, the Environment and Climate Change Leo Brincat while addressing an Informal Meeting of EU Environment Ministers in Luxembourg.
He said that the challenge to transform the economy into a more resource efficient one, lies in the sustainable management and use of resources throughout their lifecycle and producing more value with less material.
Minister Brincat said that Malta is fully committed to ensure that this can be done by decoupling economic growth from environmental degradation.
It is for this reason that the Government is in the process of consolidating a Green Economy Action Plan to be able to harness the new economic opportunities that lie within green investments and green growth.
He stated that the implementation of the post-2015 sustainable development agenda warrants co-ordinated actions from different institutions and stakeholders at both EU and national levels.
Minister Leo Brincat also said that an effective EU biodiversity strategy contributes towards sustainable development objectives.
On Climate Finance Minister Brincat said that not only should further technical discussions be held to address the complex issues ahead, but the right mix of incentives and financial instruments should be addressed.
“For Malta, Climate Finance will remain a continuing national budgetary obligation, the process of which was started in 2014 when the first allocation of International Climate Finance was approved in our national budget 2015. On the basis of this allocation, it was possible for us to contribute to the Green Climate Fund this year” stated Minister Brincat.
He said that our next step will be to address the challenges ahead resulting from the Climate Action legislation that the Maltese Parliament has just approved unanimously.
On Climate Negotiations Minister Brincat said that apart from ensuring the mainstreaming of climate change action in our national strategies and policies we also need to assess how to mobilise non-state actors in the process. This way we will be promoting a more pro-active approach from European and national civil society at large.
Minister Brincat stressed the importance for the Paris December accord to strike a balance between mitigation and adaptation.
He augured that the issue of long term climate finance should also be elaborated further in order to avoid short term fixes while stepping up review mechanisms.