• Over 300,000 Invested in PV panels, quadrupling MIA’s clean energy generation
• MIA provides students with 2,220 hours of on-the-job experiences
• MIA’s distributed economic value up by 2.5 per cent, reaching over 60 million euro

Malta International Airport’s second sustainability report reveals that an investment of over 300,000 euro in PV panels enabled the company to quadruple its clean energy generation, and subsequently register a drop in overall CO2 emissions.

Through the compilation of this report, following the Global Reporting Initiative’s (GRI) standards, Malta International Airport strives to document its successes and shortcomings over the course of a year, across the economic, environmental, and social pillars of sustainability.

“Last year was a momentous one for us, as we welcomed more than 5 million passengers for the first time, but with such numbers comes increased responsibility. We feel that the initiatives that are hatched within our Corporate Responsibility strategy, and following up on them through this annual reporting exercise help us rise to the challenge, without losing sight of the company’s value of sustainability,” said Malta International Airport CEO Alan Borg.

Mr Borg went on to highlight that the company was able to decrease its Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions intensity by 10 per cent over the previous year, in spite of the bigger volumes of passenger traffic handled by the airport when compared to 2015.

In fact, the report shows that Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions intensity, whose stabilisation can contribute to the mitigation of climate change, stood at 1.86 kg of CO2 per passenger.

Other environmental milestones include a noteworthy increase of 28 per cent in the amount of clean energy generated, following the company’s procurement of an additional 1,064 PV panels in 2016. The effect of this investment is likely to increase proportionally as the installation, which was commissioned in October 2016, enters into a full year of activity in 2017.

This PV system, together with other eco-friendly investments, contributed to a reduction of 169 tonnes of CO2, which is roughly equivalent to the CO2 emissions released by 76 cars in a year.

Socially, the company continued to invest in its people by supporting over 4,700 hours of training, and gave a number of students the opportunity to carry out placements, internships, and job shadowing exercises at Malta International Airport, amounting to around 2,220 hours of on-the-job experiences.  This falls in line with the company’s belief that students and fresh graduates bring on board valuable skills and insight that can support the ever-growing aviation industry.

Highlights from the economic section include the distribution of over 60 million euro in the form of payments to government, employee wages and benefits, and community investments, and more than 7.2 million euro (excl. the terminal reconfiguration project) ploughed into the airport’s infrastructure.

The full report can be downloaded here.