Malta is targeting a mammoth reduction in people using their cars as their primary mode of transport by 2030 as part of its sustainable development strategy.
This emerged in Malta’s Sustainable Development Strategy for 2050, which was launched for public consultation by Energy Minister Miriam Dalli on Friday.
The strategy states that, amongst other things, Malta is seeking to reduce the modal share of car drivers to 41% of what it was back in 1990 by the year 2030 as it looks to satisfy the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
Other targets include having 65,000 electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles on Malta’s roads by 2030, and achieving an 11.5% share of renewable energy in gross final energy consumption by the same year.
In a press conference, Dalli spoke of how this strategy is an important action plan for Malta’s path to ensuring that it reaches the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
Although the plan goes beyond the year 2030, which is the deadline stipulated by the UN for all its 17 SDGs, Dalli said that the strategy goes beyond just promoting sustainable development on a local and international level, and that it includes several actions which businesses together with other sectors need to take in order to prosper in a sustainable manner.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which was approved in 2015 by every nation that is a member of the United Nations, offers a common strategy for peace and prosperity for both people and the planet now and in the future.
The 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which are a call to action for all developed and developing nations to work together globally, are at the strategy’s core.
Dalli said that the announced national initiative will ensure that future economic growth does not have a drastic negative impact on future generations.
Present for the conference was also the Director of the Directorate for Sustainable Energy Gorg Said, who explained that the action plan is based on a total of five pillars.
The first strategic goal focuses on the transaction towards a neutral economy for an ecological and blue climate, while the second one focuses on moving towards the preservation of sustainable urban development and cultural heritage.
The third focuses on an assurance for a healthier life and better welfare for everyone. The fourth focuses on the need to excel at digital transformation, intelligent mobility and connectivity, whilst the final one focuses on the need to better assure social justice and prosperity for everyone.
The strategic goals between them all touch upon the UN’s 17 SDGs.
Minister Dalli said that currently Malta is placed 33rd out of 136 participating countries overall in the run to ascertain these SDGs by 2030, but added that “we cannot stop here as there is more still yet that we can achieve.”
The minister encouraged the public to put forward their suggestions and comments by no later than Thursday, 9 February 2023 by email on [email protected] or by post to the Ministry for the Environment, Energy and Enterprise, Sustainable Development Directorate 6, Qormi Road, Santa Venera, Malta.