The reported decrease in carbon dioxide emissions by 6.2% in the first quarter of 2025 may seem positive at face value, although nowhere near enough what could be achieved.

ADPD-The Green Party Secretary General Dr Ralph Cassar however said that digging a bit deeper into the numbers may reveal a different picture. “Despite the decrease in emissions however, the figure indicates a growing share of electricity sourced from the Sicily-Malta interconnector. For accounting purposes the emissions generated a few hundred kilometres away are not counted on Malta’s emissions balance sheet. The ‘reduction’ is therefore rendered purely notional, because it is just shifted onto Italy’s balance sheet. It does not necessarily indicate improvements in energy efficiency in Malta, nor a particularly large increase in local renewable energy sources.”

“Electricity imported through the Malta-Sicily interconnector increased by 42% in 2024, with interconnector responsible for 32.4% of Malta’s energy supply. Similar amounts where probably imported in the first quarter of 2025. The Minister for Energy should come clean and state clearly that the reduction is actually purely a result of an accounting exercise. This government’s record, following a long tradition of governmental neglect in the sector, is and remains abysmal.”