Daily energy subsidies of €1.5 million unsustainable – ADPD

The message being sent by the government is that there is no urgent action that needs to be taken within the energy sector, ADPD said Saturday.

ADPD Chairperson Carmel Cacopardo said that “successive governments have repeatedly postponed the necessary investment in renewable energy. An exception had even been negotiated with the EU so that our obligations to generate 20% of our energy needs from renewable sources had been reduced to 10%. When it comes to electricity, the other parties talk only about the interconnector as if this is our only saviour while little is said about the need to reduce our energy consumption. Our dependency on the interconnector is going to increase further with the second one being planned! It is imperative that those who use energy with abandon pay its full cost. We need to increase the investment in new renewable energy infrastructure.”

“A stark example of the lack of commitment to taking the necessary action by government, lest it be criticised by its political adversaries, is the campaign for efficient use of energy in industry and business. This supposed campaign became just a press conference with some guidelines. No targets, no incentives or disincentives or penalties to encourage targets to be attained. A commercial price for higher consumption may be used as a tool to reduce waste of energy.”

“Industries – especially those which leave major environmental impacts, such as tourism and construction – should be dutybound to change their operations in order to achieve the target of reducing the global temperature rise to under 1.5°C. Plans should be made based on science and with clear targets to achieve zero carbon.”

“In 2019, we reached the number of 2.8 million tourists. We are once again approaching these huge numbers. The target of 5 million tourists per year is also being mentioned. This is pure madness. The point is whether these numbers are sustainable. This is an argument that has been going on even when the numbers were much smaller. The debate was, and should continue to be, about whether we should focus more on quality than on quantity. There is an environmental dimension to this argument. The time has come to stop adding more hotels, and to immediately withdraw this government’s policy allowing hoteliers to add floors to existing hotels. Every hotel must also adhere to the highest standards when it comes to the use and generation of renewable energy. The construction industry needs to be resized, that is, to shrink. Every new building must generate the electricity it consumes from renewable sources, while the highest standards of efficiency in the use of energy should be mandatory both in new buildings, as well as in buildings that have been rehabilitated, refurbished or rebuilt.”

“Ultimately all aid granted to companies from time to time should be conditional on the operational changes required to eliminate their impact on the climate. We need a robust commitment to transition to a green and circular economy,” concluded Cacopardo.