'F' mark for Malta in climate report

The need to step up plans to reach EU emissions reduction targets and do its part to help save the planet from rapid climate change, has been emphasized by the WWF which has given Malta an ‘F’ mark from a scale between A to G.

In its report the WWF criticised government’s decision to opt for Heavy Fuel Oil to power the Delimara Power Station extension, adding that Malta’s climate change policy, “leaving a mixed picture.”

The WWF stressed that a more “comprehensive climate plan is needed with targets and actions that go beyond 2020,” adding that :”more measures are needed to cut fossil fuel dependency in the electricity sector.

It urged for a support mechanism for renewable energy that needs “increased stability and predictability and must be designed in a way also to allow non=-domestic investment.”

However the report also notes “positives” where it praised government for the drawing of a Climate Change Policy that includes a good number of initiatives, while also expressing satisfaction at the measures in place for citizens to benefit from schemes for solar water heaters that will reduce the use of electricity in households.

However, the WWF urges government to put the incentives on sounder footing and to reduce the “over-government dependent schemes.”