MIA first in Malta to adopt GRI standards in sustainability

Airports all over the world are gateways to their communities, and Malta International Airport (MIA) is very often the first impression visitors have of our country. 

Like all airports, MIA provides access to networks that can transport people and goods almost anywhere in the world, and plays a key role in commerce, trade, development and cross-cultural understanding. 

However, airports pose significant sustainability challenges too: carbon emissions, noise and air pollution, chemical spills, threats to biodiversity, worker health and safety concerns are among them. 

The potentially large environmental impact of airports and the aviation industry, in general, has led to increasing demands from stakeholders for companies to report on their sustainability performance.

The Global Reporting Initiative pioneered the development of the world’s most widely used sustainability reporting framework, which sets out the principles and indicators that organisations can use to measure and report their economic, environmental, and social performance.

The GRI’s Sustainability Reporting Guidelines have been used by over 1,000 organisations worldwide, with many more considering them informally during the preparation of their public reports.

In 2015, MIA became the first Maltese company to voluntarily adopt GRI standards for its Sustainability Report, conscious of the need to reduce its social, economic and environmental impact.

MIA’s chief executive, Alan Borg, spoke to Paul Cocks about the company’s results and efforts at enhancing sustainability in terms of its operations, infrastructure and investments.

What led MIA to become the first company in Malta to embrace the Global Reporting Initiative?

Malta International Airport is a key player in the local economy so we wanted to be strategic and much more effective with our Corporate Responsibility (CR). Our relatively new CR Strategy essentially consists of a CR Committee, which drives internal initiatives, and the Malta Airport Foundation, which manages the larger infrastructural projects. In fact, this ‘shared value’ between our key stakeholders and our business goes beyond philanthropy or charity. 

In a nutshell, we owe our success to the tourism industry and our strengths are closely associated with what the island has to offer. With this in mind, it became clear that our CR efforts should focus on the development of Product Malta for the benefit of our tourists and the Maltese public at large. 

What are the main present (and future) driving forces behind sustainability practices at MIA?

Sustainability is not only an environmental issue, it also incorporates economic and social impacts, to ensure that on a macro level today’s demands do not compromise our ability to meet future needs. Along with the traditional points of managing emissions and water consumption for example, we also consider labour practices, community investments and economic performance in forming a sustainable business model.

Our ultimate goal is to have a positive impact on all these pillars over the long-term and hope that such a concerted effort will be of direct benefit to our employees, customers, shareholders and other key stakeholders. 

In 2015, we reduced our energy consumption by 110,000 KWH – this is equivalent to powering eight Maltese homes for a full year! 

Our renewable energy generation also increased by a notable 13% through the airport’s PV systems, and our plan for this year and beyond is to significantly increase this. There were several efforts which contributed to this saving, including the replacement of light fixtures and signage to LEDs and our overall efficiency in managing increased passenger numbers. 

Water consumption sourced via the Water Services Corporation was also reduced by 22% and our new efficient vehicles resulted in a drop in fuel consumption too. All round, the airport was able to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 700 tonnes. 

Onto our economic impact, the airport distributed over €58 million into the local economy last year. This was in the form of operating costs, wages and benefits, capital expenditure, payments to government and community investments. I think you’ll agree these are all commendable efforts for our first year of reporting and this is just the beginning, as we continue to move towards bettering these indicators over time. 

What do you consider were the company’s biggest shortcomings and successes for 2015, in relation to MIA’s sustainability targets?

2015 was our first year so we are realistic about the whole process. Trust me, this was no mean feat – establishing a foundation, implementing and communicating a new CR Strategy, reaching our CR targets, report according to GRI standards, invite independent auditors to audit the whole process and achieving such a result, is already satisfactory! 

I would like to see more internal initiatives to reduce, reuse, and recycle and we already have plans in the pipeline for this. For example, we recently invested in software which enables us to roll out a car pooling incentive for our employees and eventually the rest of the community within the airport campus. 

I’m also keen to get our clean energy generation numbers up, and we have just invested over €300,000 in new PV panels which will be installed before the end of the year. This will essentially quadruple the renewable energy we are generating today. 

Personally, I would like to see us add more significant projects to our Foundation portfolio. Our first project was the rehabilitation of Torri Xutu in Wied iz-Zurrieq. Located at one of Malta’s most beautiful vantage points, within the airport’s neighbourhood, the tower had fallen into disrepair and we invested €120,000 in restoring this fortification back to its glory. This will soon be reopened to the public and we’ve got our eyes set on another important project so we are looking forward to gaining some more momentum.   

What are MIA’s top priorities for improving sustainability?

First, to launch our environmental plan for the next three years, which tackles several aspects including waste, air quality, transport, carbon emissions and more; 

Secondly, to ensure the entire company understands and is committed to our CR Strategy; 

Thirdly, to reduce our negative impacts and increase our positive impacts over the medium term.

Does MIA record estimated CO2 emissions on its footprint area? Is MIA introducing initiatives for reducing CO2 emissions?

As the centrepoint of a complex web of aircraft movements, technical operations and surface access transport, we can address our CO2 emissions in a variety of ways. We went from 2.3kgs of CO2 per passenger in 2014 to 2.0kgs per passenger in 2015 – a staggering 13.5% improvement year-on-year. We’re going to take this a step further within the next few months and will be entering the Airport Carbon Accreditation programme at Level 1, where we will have our carbon footprint independently verified in accordance with ISO14064 (Greenhouse Gas Accounting), with an aim to becoming carbon neutral in the long-term. 

How does MIA deal with waste and storm-water treatment? Does MIA have any water-saving strategies for the coming year?

The airport utilises water from three basic sources: namely the Water Services Corporation, non-potable groundwater, and rainwater collected on site. Our reliance on WSC decreased by 4,890m3 thanks to the installation of water-saving devices in our washrooms and 27% of the water used was recycled. With regard to waste, we brought in a new cardboard baler which helped us recycle double what we did in 2014. This shows that little measures go a long way in mitigating our impacts. 

In February 2016, you said in a statement “Our positive financial performance puts us on the right track to realising our €78 million investment plan. This significant commitment includes a €40 million investment in enhancing our non-aviation segment further through the development of SkyParks 2, together with our €28 million terminal expansion, scheduled to commence later on this year.” Are those investment plans still on track? What impact will such development have on MIA’s sustainability efforts?

Newer buildings and infrastructure automatically mean more modern materials and systems. SkyParks Business Centre is our best example here – the building was designed, built and managed following BREEAM, the world’s leading sustainability assessment method for buildings. 

We put every category under the microscope and worked towards achieving the highest standards, which we did. Just to put this into perspective, we could have had unobstructed bay windows across the whole building, but instead chose to design the building in such a way that makes it as energy-efficient as possible, considering heat and light exposure for the teams working there to be as comfortable as possible, without hurting our environment. 

As we continue to grow we are becoming even more efficient, so enabling this growth is important, not just on a national level, but also from a sustainable perspective. For this reason, I believe our entire investment programme will in fact decrease our CR impact.