Environment / AI-assisted brief

Gozo climate framework models net zero by 2040

The GRDA framework estimates transport produced 59% of Gozo’s 2023 emissions and models a 2040 pathway requiring major changes in vehicles, electricity and public infrastructure.

By Malta News AI Desk / 25/09/2026

A new Gozo Regional Development Authority framework models a pathway for the island to reach climate neutrality by 2040, with transport and energy identified as the main sources requiring change.

The 91-page Gozo Climate Neutral Plan was published as a strategic reference framework in September. On Friday, 25 September, the Ministry for Gozo announced that the GRDA and Malta’s Climate Action Authority had signed a memorandum of understanding intended to begin moving the plan from analysis towards implementation.

The framework estimates Gozo produced 192,369 tonnes of carbon-dioxide equivalent emissions in 2023. Transport accounted for 59% of the total, stationary energy for 31%, waste for 5%, and agriculture, forestry and other land use for the remaining 5%.

Its net-zero scenario assumes electric passenger and goods vehicles would make up about 75% of Gozo’s vehicle fleet by 2040. Under that scenario, transport emissions would fall 74% from 2023 levels by 2040. The model also assumes 350MW of offshore renewable-energy capacity and a rise in renewables to 92% of the electricity mix by that year.

The framework estimates that between 45,000 and 50,000 tonnes of emissions could still remain annually in 2040, equivalent to about 17% to 19% of the baseline. Those residual emissions would require removal or offsetting measures for climate neutrality to be reached.

Proposals examined in the document include additional or redesigned bus routes, improved cycling and walking infrastructure, paid parking in high-traffic areas, wider electric-vehicle incentives and charging infrastructure, building-efficiency upgrades, community-scale renewable projects, improved waste sorting and repair centres. It also proposes a Carbon Control Committee to calculate and monitor Gozo’s emissions each year.

The GRDA document explicitly states that its actions, targets and recommendations are not formally adopted government policy and do not by themselves commit the GRDA, the government or another public authority to implementation. Measures that require policy, regulatory or financial decisions remain subject to assessment and approval.

Read the official source: Gozo Regional Development Authority