The Malta Chamber of Construction Management today attended the first-ever national Climate Change Conference during which various speakers including the Environment Minister Aaron Farrugia addressed the challenges the Maltese Islands are facing due to climate change and the Low Carbon Development Strategy that has been drafted so that Malta achieves its target to reduce its carbon emissions by 55% by 2030. The EU aims to become carbon neutral by 2050.
Minsters Hon Ian Borg, Hon Miriam Dalli, and Parliamentary Secretary Hon Chris Agius also expressed their views on the matter. The EU aims to achieve zero carbon buildings by 2050. In this regard, the building construction sector plays a significant role within the national strategy where building standards and operations shall be improved to achieve a high-quality building envelope and thus achieve better social and economic benefits. This can only be achieved by designing energy-efficient buildings that include the use of sustainable building materials.
Retrofitting of public buildings and eventually, residential buildings have also been included within the strategy. The aim is to reduce the embodied energy that constitutes a building hence the choice of materials including recycled materials and good practice in waste management is key. Investment in specialised education within the sector plays a key role that runs in parallel with what MCCM is aiming to achieve. The national strategy will be promoting and providing education in and amongst others, green renovations and smart technologies and thus create ‘green’ jobs.
MCCM ensures that its members are duly qualified and experienced to perform their duties and promotes continuous personal development. Although sustainable buildings have been on the EU’s agenda to lower carbon emissions, there is much need for education. The construction manager will be able to influence certain decisions and promote sustainable approaches from conception to completion of a project. This will lead to a better environment, excellent quality, and energy-efficient buildings.