Engagement and the effective implementation of new and future environmental projects, twinning projects and EU-funded regional projects for climate action, through the nurturing of an innovation hub in Malta; the creation of 10,000 jobs in existing and new SMSs and realising 10 per cent of GDP through innovation and development are amongst the most salient points of a new Valletta Declaration - to be presented later this month - in favour of further action for a cleaner environment.
This Valletta Declaration was drawn up following a full-day international conference Towards a Zero-Carbon Economy beyond 2030 organised by Paragon Europe in collaboration with Climate-KIC at the Old University in Valletta. Green roofs, challenges from climate change, economic growth from better waste-management and greener mobility options were amongst the main topics discussed at the conference.
A number of high-level speakers from both public and private sectors presented their views on how business can move to low carbon operations, how government and EU legislation is helping tackle this issue and how financial and technological incentives can help organisations reduce their carbon footprint.
Paragon Europe chairman Edwin Ward explained how Paragon Europe formed the first cluster in Malta - a water cluster in 2015, that called for the creation of an innovation hub to address today's climatic challenges becoming synonymous with innovation and embracing new technologies that help address the challenges of climate change.
"Over the course of this century, Malta and the rest of southern Europe can expect the effects of climate change on sea levels, coastal flooding, drought and storm intensity to increase at a faster rate. This is also bound to affect Mediterranean tourism. Currently, around 220 million tourists visit the region, of which 30 per cent stays in coastal regions, putting a strain on these areas. Malta is part of a cluster of 30 islands in the Mediterranean chosen from 15,000 islands that are monitoring the effects of climate change in the region. To date, we know that, as a result of climate change, Mediterranean ecosystems will change to levels never seen in the past 10,000 years. A total of 15 per cent of the European population live in coastal areas, therefore climate change affects them.
"Tourism has the potential to exacerbate the damage to environmental conditions. The Mediterranean is threatened due to the inappropriate development of mass tourism. There is a strain on water resources, resulting in an increase in waste discharge into the sea, and there is a cultural disruption. Whilst accelerated coastal erosion and changes in the ecosystem will bring drastic changes to coastal tourism, Malta faces challenges from rising sea levels, coastal flooding and challenges to the fishing industry. Today should be the first day of a future without carbon."
Addressing the conference, Sustainability and the Environment Minister Jose Herrera said: "An evolution towards a low carbon economy will bring with it challenges as well as opportunities for Malta. For this to be a success, we need to work together to realise this vision. Malta's economy can gain a lot from proper environmental policies. By charting the road ahead to decarbonise our future development, we can capitalise on the socio-economic prospects and offer greener employment prospects with a resultant improvement in our environment."
Paragon Europe founder Dr Anton Theuma explained how the conference was based on three important dimensions, namely the European dimension - which gathers the EU Commission's expectation regarding climate challenges, the Mediterranean dimension due to geographical positions and the Maltese dimension as a Mediterranean country.
"We are facing a huge challenge linked to a zero-carbon environment. Malta can claim leadership of this challenge due to its economic status in Europe and it has the greatest opportunity to drive the relevant changes we really need to move to a zero-carbon economy. Although there is no 'one size fits all' solution, we can activate the right plan together with all stakeholders to make it happen by 2030. Public-private partnerships can be good mechanisms, if we know how to make them work well and Malta can also be an innovation hub through stakeholder engagement and by using the best resources we have to make this a successful exercise," he said.
"Climate-KIC's mission is to transform cities by promoting initiatives that bring about lower carbon levels and a more sustainable environment. In the long-term, our initiatives will also lead to lower implementation costs with results that deliver more value to communities. Communities need to be involved. They need to become a leading stakeholder. Collaborating with Climate-KIC has a lot of potential, particularly through the new collaborations and partnerships that can be fostered in order to reach the common goal," he added.
Other keynote speakers at the conference included global experts such as Climate-KIC CEO Kirsten Dunlop, Dario della Sala, Head of Division 'Sustainable Materials', ENEA, Giovanni Pavesi, CEO, Linde Gas Italy, Jochen Froebrich, Coordinator of Water and AgriFood, WssTP and Professors C.S Psomopoulos and G.C. Ioannides, Electrical Engineering Department, Piraeus University of Applied Sciences.