Prime Minister Robert Abela and Opposition Leader Bernard Grech spoke about climate change in Parliament on Wednesday.

Abela delivered a ministerial statement in Parliament about the COP26 summit in Scotland.

The meeting, he said, aimed to strengthen the commitment of global actors in the fight against climate change. More than 100 countries were represented, he said.

He said that Malta could potentially suffer disproportionate consequences from climate change, such as the loss of biodiversity and agricultural issues among others. He spoke of Malta's commitments, including doubling the country's contribution to the Green Climate Fund, now reaching €200,000.

He also spoke about EU aims to tackle climate change, by reducing emissions by 55% when compared to 1990.

Abela said that Malta aims to reduce emissions by 19% by 2030. "Malta already reduced its emissions over the past years."

He said that there is more to do and spoke of incoming measures, such as free public transport for everyone, and the creation of the Waste to Energy plant.

Opposition Leader Bernard Grech also spoke and spoke of the frustration youths feel when hearing about the urgent need to tackle climate change, but not seeing any concrete action. "We must be a lot more ambitious," he said.

"The fact that the government failed to make the environment a priority over the past 9 years reduces trust in what the government is now proposing on climate change."

"We enjoyed hearing you speak ambitiously in Glasgow, yet in Malta you treat the environment asan afterthought," he said.

"We need action on two pillars - prevention and mitigation. "

He spoke of the need to reduce emissions across the board on every economic sector, while also incentivising people to use clean energy.

"We need advantageous rates for those who invest in solar panels, for electric vehicle owners to pay the lowest rates."

"We want to give people the opportunity to buy second hand electric cars by incentivising them to do so, and not just incentivise the purchase of new electric vehicles."

He spoke of the need to seriously invest in charging points for electric vehicles. "We need 20,000 charging stations across the country. That is how many we need at minimum for 200,000 electric vehicles."

Grech also spoke of the need to be ready for climate change in case international targets are not met.

"An increase of one or two degrees in summer will see thousands of trees die. If we don't want Malta to become a dessert, then we need to, from now, start preparing for this possibility."

He spoke about tree mapping, and having a plan in place as to how trees are cared for.

"Climate change would result in rising sea levels, and a number of localities would be impacted. The country cannot wait for such a catastrophe without preparing for it." Grech said that countries that deal with this issue already, like the Netherlands and Italy, could share their expertise and experiences to help other countries ready themselves.

Abela, responding to questions posed by PN MPs, conceded that the public transport measure on its own is not enough, but said that it is part of a wider package of measures that the government will implement to reduce emissions.

He also took aim at the PN, by saying that the mechanism needed to ensure that targets are reached is to keep the PL in government.