The ESG refers to the funding that Gibraltar has been allocated by the EU as published by the DTI’s Objective 2 Programme for 2000-2006. It suggests that of the £5.4 million allocated to the Gibraltar programme, over one million pounds (20%> is available to match private or public funding to tackle specific environmental issues in Gibraltar.

The DTI brochure includes:

” sewage treatment, waste minimisation and energy conservation” as well as measures to “encourage environmentally friendly transport”, among others.

In light of this information the ESG asks the Govt. to advise the community which of these measures are being looked at in light of the financial support on offer from the European Union. Furthermore, given that feasibility studies are eligible for the said funding, the ESG wish to place on public record that we have a number of schemes which could be further researched towards achieving these aims, and, if funded, could be tackled immediately.

The ESG considers that an environmentally friendly transport service is a MUST for Gibraltar; that our power generation CAN be cleaner than at present and that conservation of energy as well as exploitation of renewable energy MUST be the way forward in order to reduce our costs, improve our health, and participate in a European drive to reduce CO2 and other emissions.