The MSC World Europa is registered to Malta, and flies a Maltese flag. If it remains in service for 30 years, it will still be sailing the high seas until 2052. 

The ship’s marketing materials state that the “unique prototype features a ground-breaking design to optimise efficiency, reduce environmental impact and bring MSC Cruises one step further to its goal, to achieve net zero emissions by 2050”.

This is where the “net” in “net-zero by 2050” starts to do a whole lot of heavy lifting.

Rather than seeking to actually stop burning fossil fuels, “net” implies that the company will continue to release greenhouse gases – while paying for carbon offsets, or (as yet unproven) carbon capture technology. 

“The MSC Europa is less carbon intensive than other cruiseliners running on conventional carbon intensity heavy fuel oil” continued Petroni, “but, this doesn’t not mean it is sustainable or better for the climate.”

“LNG is still a fossil fuel and in the long term it still releases a lot of emissions. Additionally, LNG ships release methane, not just carbon dioxide. Methane is a more potent greenhouse gas, so this is very damaging. We shouldn’t forget that the production of LNG also releases greenhouse gases.”

Malta has been relying on tourism, as a major source of revenue, for a long time. A significant chunk of this tourism revenue comes from the cruise ships we regularly see docked in Valletta.

Though the Covid-19 pandemic was a major shock to the cruise ship industry, the National Statistics Office has reported that so far this year, there have been a total of 71,986 cruise ship tourist arrivals in Malta – which is almost as many as the 78,051 had arrived in the same period in 2019.

These arrivals have been creeping up, year on year, since the pandemic sent out a devastating wave which rocked the cruise-industry to its core.

Though the number of arrivals is still slightly lower than in 2019, only 198 of those people actually landed in Malta. This year, 3,424 people stepped onto Malta’s shores – so the economic benefits brought by these tourists, to Maltese businesses, has arguably improved.

The cruise industry is certainly not the only cause of our climate predicament, but it is an outsized contributor. And so far, we’re willingly being held hostage by it because our major political parties agree that tourism money is good.

They agree, because within this global economic system, they have no real choice.

Climate scientists are certain that the long-term economic, social and cultural costs of adapting to climate change – which increases with each passing day of continued greenhouse gas emissions – is going to outweigh these short term gains.

Lovin Malta spoke to PN MP Eve Borg Bonello, who consulted with the opposition spokesperson for Maritime Affairs, MP Ivan Castillo, about cruise ships such as MSC World Europa.

“Cruise ships are considered sustainable, as evidenced by their continued operation. The EU Fit for 55 directive has contributed significantly to implementing environmentally cleaner processes, such as cleaner fuels, in all vessels.”

These “cleaner fuels”, which will continue to burn for thirty years, will contribute to our collective failure to meet goals set out in the Paris Agreement.

“Until new technologies can be sustainably implemented in vessels of such tonnage, these cruise ships are a sustainable alternative. For example, battery-operated vessels are already being explored and adopted by some.”

These ships are just not a sustainable alternative. They just aren’t. They’re powered by burning fossil fuels, which emit greenhouse gases into the atmosphere while being produced, and while being used.

The science is clear that burning more fossil fuels is unsustainable. If we keep doing it, we’re screwed. (That’s a propellor pun. Trying to lighten the tension.)

“Investments have been made on shore to ship electricity connections, which prevents cruise liners from burning fuels while docked in our beautiful port. While this is definitely a step in the right direction, we must do more to ensure sustainability.”

MP Eve Borg Bonello, like all traditional political figures facing the climate catastrophe conundrum, is in a difficult position. She’s also absolutely right, we do have to do more to ensure sustainability.

Much more.

Bonello is positioned in opposition to PL MP Miriam Dalli – which is indicative of the entirety of our problem.

Dalli recently participated in Med9 proceedings which brought together nine sets of Mediterranean Energy Ministers, who agreed that they would agree about a bunch of agreements, sat around a cool table.

Essentially, the problem is that these two positions represent the opposite ends of our political options.

We can go with the PL – a party with interest in the crude pursuit of profit through undemocratic over-development, greenwashing through a feeble Project Green program, cutting down trees and generally, pissing off a large chunk of the electorate – and some of their own party’s mayors.

Or we can go with the PN, who aren’t in power and may not be for some time. Still, if the PL keeps going in this way, and alienates enough people, maybe the pendulum will swing back towards the PN.

What would they do with that power? They would play the same game. They would have to pursue revenue streams wherever they could get them. And by the logic of that game, they would be right to do so.

Cruising would remain a source of revenue which would keep being justified, even through manipulated or misleading information, because it brings Malta money.

Maybe the PN would do it with less corruption. Maybe they’d do it with a little bit more consideration for the local population. But they would do it nonetheless.

The fact would remain. This iteration of our global economic system is extractive, exploitative, and functions to benefit a small group of individuals at the expense of everybody else.

The question is simple. Do we believe that capitalism will save us from itself?

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