Transport Malta hosted the Air We Share; an event featuring the Second National Electromobility Conference at the Phoenicia Hotel. Hon. Joe Mizzi, Minister for Transport and Infrastructure
(MTI), welcomed all guests present. The minister announced a number of short
and medium term measures and projects that MTI, together with Transport Malta,
will be carrying out and which will contribute towards the alleviation of
congestion, journey delays and consequently improve air quality. Minister Mizzi
said that these initiatives will also contribute towards Malta’s national
targets towards the reduction of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and improved energy
efficiency; targets which are set at EU level. A number of initiatives being
considered were announced, including the
possibility of grants for employers who organize and offer car pooling for
their employees and a nationwide car sharing service that shall be launched as
of 3rd Quarter 2016.
Hon. Leo Brincat, Minister
for Sustainable Development, the Environment and Climate Change (MSDEC), was
also invited to deliver a speech. The minister talked about the way air
pollution has been impacting directly on environmental health particularly in
urban areas Europe wide, mainly but not exclusively as a result of traffic
congestion and other related problems. The minister said that Malta is also
updating its Air Quality Plan 2010 which will include measures towards ensuring
lower PM10 and NO2 emissions in order to improve our air quality.
The conference included
other speeches and presentations, mainly by Mr. Mark Scerri from MEPA, Mr.
Peter Paul Barbara and Alexandra Ellul from Transport Malta, Mr. Kevin Borras,
the Editor-in-Chief of Thinking Cities and Thinking Highways, Dr. Gordon
Cordina and Ms. Stephanie Vella, both from E-Cubed Consultants, Mr. Ronald
Vella from Cyan Engineering, Mr. Valerio Pazzini from Siemens eCar Solution
Smart Grids and Smart City, and finally Mr. Gianni Chianetta, Director of the
Green Consulting Group.
During the conference, Transport Malta
gave further details on the grants to be made available for the purchase of new
electric vehicles which have risen to €7000 eligible for individuals, companies
and NGOs. €25,000 will also be given to local car importers to retrain
staff and upgrade their garages to host electric vehicle technology.
Companies applying for the latter grant must also commit to deploy electric
vehicle models on the local market.
Air We Share was held in
conjunction with the Greening the Islands Conference, an annual, travelling
conference highlighting sustainable solutions for islands. The conference was held in Malta for the
first time between the 28th and 30th October. The themes
for the three-day event focused on transport,
energy and
water with the aim of implementing
an interdisciplinary approach between
these key areas of green economy.A full programme for the three days can be accessed on
www.greeningtheislands.com
Greening the Islands also hosted nominations and awards at Phoenicia Hotel on Thursday 29th October, to
the winners of Greening the Islands international call for submissions for
projects aimed at implementing green solutions. Transport Malta was awarded for best sustainable transport measure award with the Port-PVEV Project. More information from here.
The event also included an Award Ceremony for those
local Councils who last year participated in the Sustainable Urban
Mobility Plans (SUMP) Competition organised by Transport Malta, MEPA, the Ministry for
Transport and Infrastructure and the Ministry for Sustainable Development, the
Environment and Climate Change. The winning Local Councils of the 2014 SUMP Competitions were Qormi, Cospicua, Paola and Valletta. To see the winners of the 2015 Competitions, please click here
All the above
mentioned events were held as part of the ‘Do The Right Mix’ Campaign, a
joint initiative in conjunction with European Mobility Week being promoted by
the European Commission to promote urban sustainable mobility.