ESG on Budget Vehicle and Plastic Matters

The various budgetary environmental measures announced by the Chief Minister on greening up Gibraltar’s vehicles, is welcome news to the ESG. We have campaigned for such measures in fuel type used by local vehicles in line with a number of other European cities.

Industry has been given substantial time to achieve these goals and we welcome and applaud the visionary plan to take our own community towards eventual, fully electrically powered transport.

We would, however, like to see hybrid and plug-in-hybrid vehicles continue to be strongly incentivised and supported as part of the short to medium term plan given the necessary lead up time to full provision of facilities to power electric-only vehicles.

The ESG urges Government to rethink this aspect of an otherwise positive and welcomed set of environmental measures announced to green up transport in Gibraltar.

Measures on reducing single use plastics are also strongly welcomed.

ESG Radio Newsletter

Key words- Summer temps/floral explosion/pollution rise/shipping activity and protocols/ Litter and civic pride- CUTW / New ESG Objectives List coming soon

Hello there- The summer season has finally arrived and with it major outdoor activity and increased littering, wonderful tree blossom and also amplification of pollution in raised temperatures and calmer wind scenarios.

We can solve some of our problems, but there are some we cannot tackle ourselves. Using public transport/ disposing of rubbish responsibly/ using less packaging at point of purchase/ encouraging others to do the same; all these actions help. In our annual Clean Up awareness campaign we aim to highlight positive actions and progress as well as actions needed by Govt, businesses and industry for all to play their part in looking after our environment. Our volunteer teams will help clean up nature, coastal and underwater sites as tackled every year.

Date for this year is 29^th September. Campaign will kick off with a March up Main Street as from 11am. and related activity will follow at the John Mackintosh Square for a few hours. Hope you can join us on the day! Plse register by emailing esg@gibtelecom.net as teams are now signing up.

As an extremely busy Mediterranean Port, Gibraltar’s shipping activity is significant. Despite following strict Codes of Practice monitored by the Port and Maritime Agency, the volume and proximity of the ships mean that pollution will affect us on an on-going basis. There are always some vessels that break the rules and these should be reported – not necessarily via FB, but direct to the Port or Dept. of Environment. Examples could be endless smoke emissions from nearby vessels, which clearly are not circumstances of mere start up of engines.

Contact us for information on how to make such reports. Another factor is that Gibraltar needs to apply more stringent controls than are required whether by the EU or International conventions – simply because of the proximity of berthing and shipping activity to residential areas. The ESG is following up on all these issues with the authorities as well as seeking provision of onshore electricity connection throughout the Port area.

Since 2003 the ESG has set out its “Shopping Cart” of Objectives for Gibraltar and the regional environment and we try and update this as frequently as possible.

Our 2017 List is now being reviewed and will be available online soon. We know from feedback from the community that this resource is very useful to people interested in finding out more about the issues on the ground including students both here and abroad. The 2018 paper will be available online at www.esg-gib.net with issues covered such as : Climate Change, Energy, Waste, Sewage, Pollution, Transport, Cross Border Issues, Govt Environmental Management Plan and many more.

Thank you for listening..!

JOINT STATEMENT ON GRAND PARADE

The GONHS, Gibraltar Heritage Trust and ESG welcome the exchange in Parliament on the 18^th May highlighting a meeting held between the Chief Minister and the three groups in November 2017 to discuss the issue of the Grand Parade Car Parking Project.

The groups were very grateful to be able to present their views and concerns directly, and in some detail, which included viability of going underground, importance for current and future generations of preserving this important open space, and the added advantage this gave of creating an attractively landscaped area for both residents and the many thousands of tourists that will visit the Botanic Gardens and Upper Rock via the Cable Car.

All three NGOs sincerely hope that the outcome of the investigations into the viability of an underground car park facility at this site will be successful.

ESG Radio Newsletter May 30^th 2018

Keywords:    World Environment Day 2018    Grand Parade Car Park    Clean up 2018

We start today’s newsletter by highlighting World Environment Day event next week supported by a number of NGOs, schools and more. Event is organised by the Dept of Environment and promises to showcase the extensive efforts now being carried out at citizen level on environmental causes and targets – which is also growing year by year. The ESG will use this opportunity to promote its aims and objectives it works on year round for a better environment as well as its direct efforts through the Clean up the World Campaign to reduce plastic waste which is also the theme for World Environment Day this year. The date for this event is the 5^th June – and is being held at the Commonwealth Park from 9am to 3.30pm.

An important issue for us is use of space and the protection of open and green areas and liveability. We were therefore very pleased to hear the exchanges at Parliament last week confirming that fresh investigation is now underway to establish the viability of an underground Grand Parade Car Park. The ESG, together with the Gibraltar Heritage Trust and GONHS met end of last year with the Chief Minister to directly present joint concerns about the loss of this valued open space. The groups believe preserving the space and parking underground is important for both current and future generations. It would also provide an opportunity to landscape the area for the benefit of locals and the many thousands of tourists that will access the Upper Rock via the Cable Car and visit the Botanic Gardens.

Clean up 2018 planning is on-going and we are very pleased with the progress being made. Volunteers have started to register and we remind you that you can do this by emailing us at esg@gibtelecom.net. The Gibraltar wide clean up has taken place each year since 2005 and there have been many great gains achieved in addressing litter and waste issues – there is more work to do and we thank all volunteers and supporters for helping us maintain the valuable Gibraltar wide focus that the Clean up Campaign provides.

Date for this year is Saturday the 29^th of September, and will be launched by an exciting Parade with just a few surprises all aimed at raising awareness about how we need to work a lot harder to clean and protect our living environment! Hope you can join us once again this year. Details of workshops for August will be published soon.

For more information on our on-going issues please visit our website at: esg-gib.net.

Thanks for listening!

The ESG strongly welcomes the extensive solar power project which has been set up on the roof of New Harbours.

The group believes Solar is the future and is very pleased to see what it hopes is one of many similar projects to follow.

ESG Radio Newsletter 17^th May 2018

Key words:  CUTW 2018 update      World Environment Day     Bathing Water Data     DPC    Wildflowers       Various Projects           

Since our last newsletter the ESG has been busy pushing forward with its usual focus on local and regional environmental issues, works at our new premises, and setting up all provision for the Clean up Event in September. This last project is set to change this year with our Zero Waste target to reduce the amount of single use plastic we actually use when clearing up litter in the natural environment. Progress is being made and we are getting great support from the community at every level and are confident we can achieve this target.

The date for our awareness parade and clean up event is the 29^th September. This will be our 14^th year running – we already have volunteers signing up and we invite you to contact us to register at: esg@gibtelecom.net. Long-term partners will be contacted before the end of May and planning sessions for July and August will be published soon.

World Environment Day is coming up on the 5^th June at the Commonwealth Park. This event is organised by the Dept. of Environment and involves many local NGOs and schools. With our schools developing their own, and growing, year round environmental programmes, the 5^th June will no doubt be a great event reflecting this successful effort. The ESG will be supporting World Environment Day with our own stall aimed at sharing our interests and promoting our group’s key messages. Hope you will find time to pop round on the 5^th – it is being run the whole day, from 9.30am to 3.30pm.

With the weather picking up more and more of us are heading to our shores to cool down and a timely reminder therefore to check the bathing water monitoring site where you can find data on past and current water quality at your beach of choice. While in the main most Gibraltar beaches are in good health, the one that has been highly problematic for the past 8 years has been Western Beach and records show that during 2018 winter months, and rainfall conditions, sewage contamination persists. Therefore it is useful to check available data and also to avoid the area during any rainfall. No final solution has yet been achieved despite NGO and Govt action and indeed EU legal action proceedings started against Spain on this. The ESG hopes that with the progress on cross border business cooperation currently underway due to Brexit matters that this issue will be also given necessary attention.

For bathing water data simply search for: environmental-agency.gi, go to monitoring and click on bathing water.

DPC – that’s the Development and Planning Commission- meet for their monthly session on the 23^rd May as from 9.30am at the John Mackintosh Hall, Charles Hunt Room. These meetings are open to the public and you can find the agenda on the DPC Town Planning Website.

It continues to be a walker and birders season at present with an explosion of wildflowers everywhere and birds gracing our skies. The heavy and persistent rains have transformed many of our nature spots to tropical and vibrant conditions – life is truly abuzz! right now, very special indeed. Get out there if you can- Upper Rock, Europa Foreshore, Botanic Gardens and our coastline are just some examples.

We continue to follow and monitor progress on the upcoming Waste Plant, Sewage Treatment Plant, LNG Power Station, New Cleaning Contract and others. We also remain vigilant on heavy pollution incidences and act on reports received etc.

Please visit our own website at esg-gib.net where we post all Radio Newsletters and Press Statements for more information and for our comprehensive List of Objectives which sets out our views on Gibraltar’s environmental challenges. Thanks for listening.

4th May 2018

Gibraltar has been ranked the 3^rd worst polluted UK city in a recent WHO report on fine particle matter. Many in Gibraltar have been shocked at this ranking even though it doesn’t come as a total surprise to the ESG. Over the years we have pressed every administration in office for improvements in key polluting activity in Gibraltar. We have also campaigned at an EU level on major cross border pollution sources. These concerns were highlighted recently by the ESG during the NABU visit and more details can be found on our website under List of Objectives. (See www.esg-gib.net).

WHO recommendations and reports help drive health-based regulatory standards and are therefore very important.

The ESG continues to work for environmental improvements and for action to be taken to reduce air pollution levels in Gibraltar and the wider Bay area.

ESG Radio Newsletter 26^th April 2018  

Key Words:  Zero Waste Target  CUTW 2018    Plastic Pledge   15% Drop in CO2 emissions    Ship Emissions and NABU       The Bay

We start todays newsletter by providing an update on Clean up preparations for this years campaign. Our Zero Waste target mentioned in our last newsletter on running the Campaign itself is a challenge but one that we believe we can rise to and are working hard at present to achieve. Since we announced our new vision we have secured funding for a number of items helping bring our plans to reality. An outreach programme is now underway to discuss the new plans with our Clean up Volunteer teams and partners and the response we are getting is very encouraging indeed.

Also in today’s UK press we hear about how over 40 companies have signed up to a Plastic Pledge to take immediate, short and long term action regarding not only packaging, but single use plastics. The ESG has long called for the critical issue of packaging to be tackled at source, ie manufacture, because it is an essential part of global trade and the transporting of goods over distance. BUT! This packaging must be produced from harmless, biodegradable, or at worst fully recyclable materials – all of which makes complete sense and is the way forward. While this campaign has started in the UK it is attracting international support which is excellent news. We must mention and recognise local efforts to tackle single use plastic waste with main supermarkets, Nautilus Project and several companies getting increasingly behind this hot issue. Government support and engagement is also playing an important role and we will be doing our bit under our flagship Clean up Campaign to highlight litter issues and encourage the reduce reuse recycle message as we have done since 2005.

Plans for workshops; presentations and fundraisers will be released very soon.

On pollution it is good news indeed that through efficiency and conservation of energy measures from Gibraltar’s land based energy use there has been a reduction of CO2 emissions of up to 15% over the past 3 years. This can only improve with the greater harness of renewable energy measures and we follow this with much interest. Well done to all!

There is no doubt that Ship emissions affect our local environment and we are currently researching all factors regarding regional, European and international regulations on emissions to better understand what possible improvements could come our way from future changes. Locally we continue to call for best practice and technologies to be used that will require a combination of regulation, infrastructure changes and also on companies investing more in reducing environmental impacts.

We also wanted to refer to the recent air sampling carried out by a German NGO, to record a snapshot of emissions from a departing liner leaving Gibraltar. We have contacted NABU and are presently waiting for their reply. In sharing with them our Objectives we hope to highlight our longstanding efforts to tackle pollution both locally and regionally, in fact even carrying out spot sampling ourselves throughout the Bay. We also expressed interest in their Med wide study on shipping emissions and enquired whether CEPSA Oil Refinery and Algeciras Port were included in similar spot checks as their environmental impacts are major given the nature of their industry and scale of operation.

We now wait for news from NABU.

Visit our website at: esg-gib.net for all our press releases on topical issues.

ESG Press Release re GibDock impacts

Key Words:  GibDock Impacts    Onshore Power Connection and Conversion   Paint Overspray and Daytime working hours

ESG is concerned that despite the Govt statement issued in February 2018 of its aims to reduce GibDock impacts, citizens continue to experience noise and air pollution from the Dockyard area. Apart from the onshore connection and conversion provision that will be set up with the new LNG Power Station, control of works to daytime hours and paint over spray were two further issues that were also going to be addressed.

The ESG calls upon Government to publish its intentions on how these environmental impacts will be contained and over what period of time, to at least inform the community, and those most impacted in particular, of the length of time present conditions must be tolerated. As achieved with the closure, or mothballing, of the two highly polluting stations, people are right to expect a step plan on how Govt will help deliver a pollution freer south district for all residents.

ESG Press Release

NABU Air Sampling on the Rock

The ESG recognises the issues flagged up by NABU members on the Rock on high pollution levels near the port area but is surprised there was no contact made with the group prior to their visit on the Rock. Had they done so they would have realised that we have been campaigning and fighting for a pollution free Bay for close to two decades. The ESG has targeted local and regional sources of pollution with the CEPSA Oil Refinery forming a major part of its work in the early years.

Shipping emissions are also of concern to the ESG who has for some time now been advocating for onshore power connection for berthed vessels throughout the Port area also calling for best practice in vessels anchoring off Gibraltar to minimise emissions at anchor. We have also called for real-time monitoring to be set up in the NW region of Gibraltar to better understand the impacts from shipping and other activity with appropriate actions to then follow.

Details on all the groups concerns can be found on its website under List of Objectives. (See extract on Pollution below)

What is clear however, is that as NABU has been carrying out a Mediterranean wide study on coastal emissions from shipping they should have taken similar snapshot samples at each hotspot throughout the Bay especially the Algeciras Port and CEPSA Terminal and then release pollution data, in order to portray similar impacts from shipping activity of all types in the Bay area.

The ESG will be contacting NABU scientists and will also share with them its concerns about the serious environmental problems of the area in the hope that they will look at the Bay situation holistically and take all factors into account.

“Extract from ESG List of Objectives 2017 available at www.esg-gib.net ”

4. POLLUTION – There are many areas we follow regarding air and noise pollution matters in Gibraltar and Bay area. As indicators the following represent most of the areas and issues in question:

a. Real time air monitor for NW district

b. Mobile air pollution monitor

c. Onshore Power Supply (connection and conversion)- coming on stream –ESG following closely especially for Dockyard/Port and Extension Jetty facilities

d. Ships at anchor – best practice to be applied by all visiting vessels to keep funnel emissions to a minimum

e. Vapour recovery technology from shipping to eliminate fugitive fumes

f.  Best practice and available technology

g. Road idling –rules regarding unnecessary idling of engines by all road vehicles need to be enforce

h. Airport air and noise impacts

i. Border issues including traffic

j. Fuel Stations relocation once runway road open   
                More details on request and in other sections in Document