AD’s candidate for the European Parliament election, Arnold Cassola, expressed his concern with the Maltese government’s inertia in this sector.

He called on the Maltese government to plan on how it will reduce CO2 emissions. “We are not doing enough to promote solar energy, despite the potential of this energy source in a sunny island like Malta,” Professor Cassola said.

“We welcome the fact that the Malta Resources Authority has recently endorsed the concept of green energy.

“The heftiest single element in Malta’s large import bill reflects the cost of supplying our islands with energy and a large volume of the water we use.

“AD commends the MRA’s recent proposal that all new buildings will have to be adequately insulated to save energy.

“The MRA should also provide a new service through which consumers can get get advice on how to reduce the consumption of energy in their homes and thus save money and at the same time save the environment.

“The use of bio-diesel should also be promoted. Another energy source that should be developed is the production of methane for energy purposes from pig farms”.

Meanwhile, AD welcomed the fact that a few days ago the European Parliament voted on the “linkage directive” that sets out the rules for the use of foreign greenhouse gas emission reduction credits in the EU’s emissions trading scheme.

Alexander de Roo, (GroenLinks, NL), vice chairman of the parliament’s Environment Committee and Rapporteur on the issue, said: “With the adoption of this directive, the Kyoto Protocol and its flexible mechanism element will become a reality in the EU from 1 January 2005.

“The directive will allow for emission reduction credits gained through ‘clean’ and sustainable investments in Russia and other Eastern Europe and less-developed countries to be automatically usable within the EU emissions trading scheme.

“European companies participating in the trading scheme will be able to buy, sell and use these credits.

“To prevent the Kyoto Protocol process from failing, the EU has taken the initiative of creating a parallel Kyoto process.

“Energy producers and other big companies participating in the EU emissions trading scheme will, from next year, be able to gain emissions rights by investing in windmills in Brazil, solar panels in Indonesia or by replacing coal power plants with gas plants in China,” Mr de Roo concluded.