Another successful research paper has been published internationally! Dr Ing. Charles Yousif, a senior lecturer at the Institute for Sustainable Energy and Ms Nadya Buga, a graduate in BSc in Earth Systems published a paper about “Evaluating drivers and barriers to adopting a local energy policy under the Covenant of Mayors Initiative in the small island state of Malta”. This paper has just been published in the prestigious journal Energy Policy and is also available to for free until 19 November 2021.
is an initiative that voluntarily engages municipalities to devise local policies to reduce CO2 emissions and energy consumption. Signatory cities pledge action to support implementation of the gas-reduction target by 2030 and the adoption of a joint approach to tackling mitigation and adaptation to climate change. Through the study, the aim is to understand the extent of its contribution towards the reduction of local energy consumption and CO2 emissions.
Overall in Malta and Gozo, it was noted that local councils have not had sufficient autonomy, resources and external support to enable their successful participation in the initiative. The Maltese signatories have been identified as not sufficiently fulfilling their obligations towards the initiative and there has been little contribution of the CoM to the local reduction of CO2 emissions and energy consumption for the 2020 set of targets for Malta.
This paper highlights how the local councils can successfully achieve their CoM goals. Among some of the drivers to reach the aforementioned targets:
-
The sense of ownership of the project, the councillors need to feel and act that their CoM involvement is part of their mission.
-
Ensuring appropriate hand-overs from the outgoing local council officials to the newly elected ones and understanding that the CoM initiative is a community-driven action
Through this paper, it was found that most local councils in Malta are generally motivated to use more energy-efficient devices and renewable energy where this is feasible, and a lot of interest was shown for participating in local climate change mitigation efforts. The results of this research show that certain policy recommendations are made to improve the effectiveness of local governments’ involvement in climate policies and initiatives. These measures focus on the financing of local councils, organisational and accountability procedures, prioritisation of climate action, outreach and involvement of the general public, and continued awareness raising of climate issues.
Dr Ing Yousif commented that “Thanks to the high level of student preparation that the Institute of Earth Systems offers and the determination of Ms Buga to consolidate the outcome as an international publication that brought this endeavour to its successful finale.” He added: "It was an uphill struggle to succeed in passing the rigorous comments of four peer reviewers, given that the topic of the Covenant of Mayors is a highly researched area and has widespread implications on EU policies.” The University of Malta and the Institute of Earth Systems encourage such initiatives and are always available to provide any support, being financial or professional, to further develop the capacities of academics and their students to publish noteworthy material across the globe.
