As MESGA celebrates its 6 months from launching, its founding members continue with their initiatives to contribute to the local ESG Agenda.
During a conference organized by Bank of Valletta plc, one of the MESGA founding members, on 24 January 2023, Climate Challenges & Opportunities for Real Estate, discussions were held around the need to include climate change, its risk and opportunities in the local property market, a sector which is a stronghold of the Maltese economy.
This conference brought together government, developers, real estate agents and managers, economists, bankers and other interested parties, to continue discussions on actions that need to be undertaken around climate (and wider ESG) risks and opportunities when considering property projects, from design to application to funding to implementation. One key area is energy efficiency, which needs to feature from design, but also in retrofitting existing properties.
Chris Meilak, EY associate partner as well as MESGA strategic advisor, specified how regulation can act as a driving factor to increase the pace of adoption of certain technologies. This could lead to greater market awareness from residential and commercial property buyers/ lessees (demand), as well as supply. In the coming couple of years, with the move towards the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, we can expect to see greater awareness and interest from (initially) larger corporates, who are being mandated to disclose a number of ESG KPIs, including energy footprint and in/direct carbon emissions
For this reason, the time to act is now. MESGA and its members aim to continue the collaboration within the private sector to drive change. In property specifically, this will also require the collaboration of all market players, from developers, architects, buyers, authorities and finance providers.
In the coming weeks, MESGA will be issuing an open call for new joining members. The process will include an application and approval stage, with more information being provided in the eventual call.