Climate change agency was proposed 15 years ago... and governments slept on it

Malta already has the blueprint for a Climate Change Agency, as shared in a policy document by David Spiteri Gingell.

On Friday, Energy Minister Miriam Dalli announced that the government will set up a new authority to monitor the impact of climate change and coordinate actions to mitigate its effects.

But Spiteri Gingell, a management consultant that has advised Maltese governments on everything from energy to pensions, has posted on Linkedin a policy document from 2009 that recommended the setting up of a similar ‘Malta Climate Change Agency’.

“It is tragic how this country goes round in circles,” Spiteri Gingell said. “In 2008 I chaired a committee of experts on climate change and mitigation, and later on climate change and adaptation. We strongly recommended the setting up of a Malta Climate Change Agency under the then-new Public Administration Act to drive the implementation of measures proposed in both strategies.”

The document states that the agency’s vision statement should be “to allow Malta and Gozo’s future generations be less impacted by Greenhouse Gas Emissions”.

It’s mission statement: “to be the Nation’s catalyst in promoting the reduction of Greenhouse Gas Emissions”.

The document goes into detail on how the agency should be set up. It was to have a Board of Directors composed of a Chairperson and four non-executive directors, with the Minister of Resources and Rural Affairs appointing the Chairperson and the non-executive directors. Three of the non-executive directors were to be selected and appointed from a list of nominations submitted by public entities with a direct role in climate change abatement issues.

The agency would be led by a CEO engaged on a three-year definite term and would have several units, including a Forward Planning Unit and a Policy Unit.

Spiteri Gingell said that he is making this report public so that the Principal Permanent Secretary does not start from scratch in setting up the climate change agency as announced today.

At this stage, details are scant on the Energy Minister’s plans for a climate change agency, but it will be set up through a parliamentary Bill.

Dalli said the authority’s main objective will be to carry out a monitoring of the impact of different activities on climate change, while coming up with proposals on the actions that the country needs to take to address the phenomenon.

Back in October 2019, the Opposition had also filed a parliamentary motion to set up a permanent commission to scrutinise actions on climate change.

The motion had been filed by then environment spokesperson Jason Azzopardi. The Labour Party had hit back at the motion by attacking Azzopardi’s credibility on the environment.

The government had initially shot down the motion which had called for an entity and parliamentary committee to take charge of actions to mitigate against climate change.

The motion declaring a climate emergency was eventually approved following talks to reach a consensus.