Yasmin Schembri, Senior Consultant at AIS Environment
Malta, with its rich history, stunning coastlines, and bustling economy, faces some big environmental challenges. For Maltese businesses, keeping up with environmental laws and working towards sustainability isn’t just a box-ticking exercise – it’s a daily balancing act to keep their operations profitable.
More Than Just Paperwork
Maltese businesses must comply with a web of local and European Union rules. These regulations are primarily designed to protect the environment tend to be challenging to implement especially as they change and evolve. For instance, recent Omnibus legislation refined the scope of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), limiting mandatory ESG reporting to companies with more than 1,000 employees. This adjustment effectively relieves the vast majority of Malta-based businesses from this complex reporting requirement, many of which were already recruiting personnel to tackle sustainability targets. On the other hand, smaller companies also face challenges with different permits and assessments, such as operational permits issued by ERA, and waste management licenses, which can be time-consuming and require specialised expertise.
The Island Dilemma
Malta’s dense population creates intense competition for space and resources, intensifying environmental pressures. The island’s strong dependence on imports means that most goods arrive via air and sea freight, significantly adding emissions to the local transport loads. The EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) adds further challenges, requiring importers of carbon-intensive goods to report embedded emissions. In the absence of land links to main land Europe, local companies have fewer available options at their disposal to reduce carbon emissions arising from logistics. Innovative solutions are needed to provide a sustainable supply chain.
Waste Not, Want Not
Waste management is a hot topic in Malta. Despite best efforts, the island still lags behind EU recycling targets, with over 39% of commercial waste being disposed in landfills according to Malta’s Long-Term Waste Management Plan. Businesses often want to do the right thing, but often run into practical problems: not enough recycling facilities, complicated collection systems, and a lack of local options for reusing materials. Moving towards a circular economy – where waste is minimised and resources are reused – remains a work in progress for most businesses.
Managing Vital Resources Sustainably
Maltese businesses face rising costs and operational challenges linked to water and energy use. The island’s heavy reliance on energy-intensive desalination plants for freshwater supply means higher utility expenses for sectors like hospitality, agriculture, and manufacturing. Concurrently, Malta’s energy sector depends mostly on imported fossil fuels, with limited space for renewable energy installations, limiting businesses’ ability to transition quickly to greener energy. While the government has reduced energy costs through subsidies, in 2024 the European Commission called on Malta to eliminate these subsidies. With no public plans to reduce these subsidies, businesses face major uncertainties on their future utility expenses.
The Jammed Economy
Malta’s traffic congestion, with over 440,000 vehicles on the island, significantly affects businesses by causing delays in commutes and deliveries, reducing customer visits, and increasing fuel costs. These delays impact productivity and staff wellbeing, leading to more remote work requests. Malta’s 2050 Transport Strategy estimates that traffic congestion’s economic cost could reach €1.28 billion annually by 2050. Heavy traffic also worsens air quality and raises health risks like respiratory illnesses and stress, leading to more sick days taken by employees all across Malta.
Navigating the complexities of environmental regulations and sustainability goals can be challenging for businesses. Working with experienced environmental professionals such as AIS Environment can provide valuable insights into evolving legal requirements and help identify practical steps toward improved resource management. Such collaboration can assist in developing tailored strategies that align with both compliance obligations and long-term sustainability ambitions, making the process more manageable and informed without adding undue burden.
