ADPD proposes carbon neutrality obligations for all new construction

All new property development should be self-sufficient and therefore carbon neutral, ADPD the Green Party, has proposed.

Addressing a press conference on Saturday morning, party chairperson Carmel Cacopardo said that it was not enough that developers make up for their development with solar farms, but said self-sufficient energy should be generated on the spot. 

He said that limited obligations, such as solar water heaters and photovoltaic cells, should also come into effect when one renovates a building.

"Whoever refuses to comply, should not be allowed to carry out with the development," Cacopardo said.

He also called for a national strategy for transport, as recent studies had shown that 50% of trips by private cars take less than 15 minutes. Public transport had improved, said Cacopardo, but if more was done to improve the public opinion on it, 50% of the emissions generated on the road could be eliminated.

He highlighted the need for a Bus Rapid Transit system, where lanes would be reserved solely for buses, that would operate for free on a 24-hour basis. 

On tourism, Cacopardo said that although due to the pandemic the industry took a downturn, hosting three million tourists a year was not sustainable. "On average, tourists generate 50% more emissions that a local, mostly in greenhouse gases from aviation," he said.

Malta should therefore shift the strategy away from mass tourism and towards and “industry based on quality, not numbers”.  

Cacopardo said that the transition to electric cars was not enough, since this shifts the burden to the nation's power supply, with proposals for another inter connector already in the pipeline. 

“We should be incentivising the public to use less cars and that is the reason why we spoke against the numerous road projects, which encourage people to keep using their car," he said.

And the political talk on the environment was very contradictory and should be climate and eco-friendly through solid proposals. 

“They are today sprouting rhetoric and greenwash but do not come up with concrete proposals and with ambitious goals. This is a testament that even today their rhetoric on climate change and sustainability are just empty words," Cacopardo said.

Party secretary general Ralph Cassar referred to the United Nations IPPC report on climate change, which sounded a Code Red warning for humanity.

He said that if the ountry does not act swiftly, there would be grave consequences for Malta, which is "a vulnerable country due to its geographical position".

The report said the Mediterranean, from the industrial revolution to date, had already registered nearly a 1.5°C increase in temperature, due to which the sea level is expected to rise by two metres by 2100. 

Cassar said that Malta was already experiencing excessive heat, severe droughts and food supply insecurity, and insisted the country's size does not exempt it from responsibility.

"We are changing from a Mediterranean climate to a tropical one and we expect to see water scarcity and elevated food prices which would not be affordable to all," he said. "This could lead to severe tensions between nations, as countries would not be able to cope with the climate repercussions."