Time’s Up For Gas: NGO Demands A Fossil-Free Malta Amidst Gas Pipeline Plans
Friends of the Earth, a local environmental NGO, is demanding a shift towards a fossil-free Malta amidst the gas pipeline plans.
At the ‘A Gas Pipeline’ conference held last Friday, the current gas pipeline plans were thoroughly discussed, as well as the climate crisis, and the need for renewable energy sources.
“We believe public money should be invested in the energy of the future, not of the past,” Suzanne Maas, the Climate Campaign coordinator at Friends of the Earth Malta said.
“There is no time to waste; for reasons of climate change and energy security, Malta should instead focus on local renewable energy, importing green electricity and improving energy efficiency.”
The proposed pipeline, a 159km long pipeline project from Delimara in Malta to Gela in Italy, is set to cost up to €400 million.
Among the demands made during the conference, a need to invest in renewable sources was highlighted, emphasising that no new infrastructure for fossil fuels should be invested in.
The demands are as follows:
1. No new infrastructure for fossil fuels – we should be investing in renewable sources
2. Assessment of baseline requirements for energy production by Malta with clean resources
3. Hydrogen is not the green fuel it’s portrayed to be, given that 99% of worldwide hydrogen involves fossil fuels (greenwashing – some research into actual green hydrogen, but there is no green hydrogen production in Sicily and Italy)
4. Imported electricity should come from renewable sources; outsourcing emissions to another country to skew numbers
5. Malta should enable and promote community energy initiatives – call for the creation of democratic and decentralised energy systems
6. No public money should go to Electrogas shareholders – taxpayer money should not end up in the pockets of businesses under investigation
Maltese citizens are also being encouraged to send a postcard to the Energy Minister, attaching the above demands by following this link.
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