[WATCH] Government needs to act on climate change - AD

AD MEP candidate Mina Tolu on need for climate change action

Alternattiva Demokratika is calling for concrete action to address climate change, issuing a set of proposals to help tackle the problem.

AD said it was essential to recognise that a global change in climate due to man-made factors is going to impact Malta and its people's well-being.

The proposals were announced in a press conference on Saturday morning, following a demonstration regarding the need for action on climate change, organised by Alternattiva Demokratika Zghazagh, the party's young people's arm.

The proposals highlighted:

• The government's need to acknowledge the effect climate change will have on Malta, and to take the necessary steps to ensure a sustainable future in this regard, including adopting aims and legal measures to mitigate the problem
• The need to implement the Paris Agreements requirement of reducing greenhouse emissions by 55% by 2030, to gradually stop the country's reliance on natural gas by 2050 and move to renewable energy and an economy based on zero emissions
• To need invest in sustainable alternative transport systems, including through education campagins promoting cycling, walking and the use of public transport. AD proposed a target of having 50% of vehicles on the road using alternative fuels by 2030, increasing bus frequency and investing in cycling-related infrastructure
• The importance of having a clean energy system and investing in energy-efficient buildings, gradually transitioning to a green economy and an infrastructure supporting renewable energy
• Setting up an panel whose resonsibility it is to mitigate the effects of climate change
• Enforcing the "polluter-pays-principle"by setting a minimum price for infrastructure and construction industries and introduing new tarrifs on vehicle import, depending on their emissions

"Vehicle emissions are the largest source of pollution in the atmosphere," AD chairperson Carmel Cacopardo said.

"We have addressed pollution from energy-generating sources, now it's time that we take care of transport sources," he said.

AD MEP candidate Mina Tolu

He said the problem caused by transport will escalate due to the "astronomic increase in the number of cars on the roads", lamenting that the government had embrakes on a massive programme of road widening instead of investing in sustainable means of transport.

Cacopardo also underscored that the planned Gozo-Malta tunnel would lead to a increase in the number of vehicles moving between the two island from 3,000 to 9,000 each day over 15 years.

Therefore, he said, the tunnel was essential for use by cars, not people.

A service provided for the movement of people would be a fast ferry service, he added.