There has been much to write about in the past few days, however with polling beginning around Malta and Gozo this morning, more serene and neutral tones will be the order of the day.
A few days ago, The Malta Independent published an editorial stressing the need for more renewable energy sources in Malta. We believe that the government is taking steps in the right direction by focusing on reducing energy demands and producing more power through renewable sources.
In fact, Malta has pledged to reduce its energy use by nine per cent within nine years. This whole issue has now been brought to the forefront of the EU’s agenda with a campaign to reduce emissions, cut energy use and increase the use of renewable energy in a drive headed by the EU’s German presidency under Angela Merkel.
Ms Merkel is keen to get the 25 EU members and two candidate countries to cut overall greenhouse gas emissions by 20 per cent from 1990 levels by 2020, going a further 30 per cent if the world’s other regions join in.
She is also keen to get legislation passed to ensure that EU members will have to produce some 20 per cent of all power from renewable sources by 2020. The EU also wants to set a mandatory target for bio-fuels to replace 10 per cent of transport petrol and diesel by 2020.
The final proposal is for the EU to set out a range of actions to cut energy use by 13 per cent below current levels by promoting more efficient appliances, lighting and heating.
Yet, herein lies the problem. Europe is striving to reduce its energy use, while at the same time cutting greenhouse emissions in line with the Kyoto Protocol that requires industrial nations to cut global warming gas emissions by an average of five per cent below 1990 levels by the year 2012.
“Europe only produces 15 per cent of carbon dioxide emissions. The real climate problem will not be solved by Europe alone,” says Ms Merkel.
Perhaps understandably, many EU nations are reluctant to make these kind of promises, as they believe such steps would lead to job losses and a downward surge in competitiveness. On the flipside, one could argue, fossil fuels such as oil, coal and gas will not last forever and the change will have to be made at some point.
In today’s day and age, the early bird catches the worm. The leaders in innovation are those who set themselves early targets and stick to them. If Europe can reduce its dependency on
fossil fuels, this will set the union up better for the future.
On this note, Ms Merkel wants Europe to lay down a challenge to the US (which has announced some measures) in an effort to get it to abide by the terms of the Kyoto Protocol. The US, on the other hand, argues that Kyoto would do serious harm to the US economy and that the terms should also apply to booming economies such as those of China and India.
The goal should be clear – yes, the EU should apply more pressure on polluters such as the US, China and India to cut emissions. But the EU should not procrastinate too much.
As already mentioned, fossil fuels will not last for ever and they will certainly become much more expensive even before they run out. One only has to look at the global oil scenario to understand. Europe should act now to set the groundwork for less dependency on oil. We are supposed to be striving to become the world’s most knowledge-based economy. Reliance on
fossil fuels and pollutants will surely not take us in that direction.