The impact of EU membership on Malta’s climate action

Abstract

This article analyses how Malta, a Republic since 1974 and a Member State of the European Union (EU) as of 2004, has reacted to a shifting European governance landscape in the area of climate. It does so by analyzing the impact EU membership has had on Malta’s legal framework, policy performance, and its approach towards climate change. Despite good progress in some areas such as greenhouse gas emission reporting as well as the formulation of legislation, policies and strategies for climate action and adaptation, the EU framework has had an ambivalent impact on Malta’s climate performance. This article mentions how Europeanisation and compliance with EU law can vary across Member States and policy domains and highlights the difficulties of certain Member States to fully accept and adopt EU environmental norms due to, among others, horizontal and vertical fragmentation of their administrative structures and the degree of political activism on the environment. Malta’s case is hereby discussed within the context of a rapidly changing climate, with an emphasis on three extreme climate hazards: heatwaves, sea level rise and droughts. The article highlights the urgent need to frame Malta’s national policies on factual information that is Malta-specific and not on an assumed theoretical or regional inference. In doing so, the true impact of a changing climate on Maltese assets can be understood. Without Malta-specific knowledge there is a danger that public policies will be less effective or even counterproductive to the country’s economic sectors, and ultimately to the quality of life.