Maria Darby-Walker
This is my first summer in Malta, and the naysayers were right.
I was warned it gets hot. I didn’t quite realise how hot, and how intense the Maltese sun can be. And there has been little respite this year, with most of Europe having spent the last few weeks trapped under the same enduring heatwave, so even the usual escape routes north have offered little relief.
Just last week, July’s heat record was shattered, according to the Times of Malta, with the country experiencing its hottest July day on record with temperatures soaring to a sizzling 43.3°C. Walk through Valletta, Sliema or any Maltese town on a summer’s day and the reason is clear: the stunning limestone buildings sadly offer little shade, instead absorbing solar energy all day and releasing it slowly through the night, along with the concrete pavements and asphalt roads.
Malta is already the EU country worst placed to escape the heat. In a recent Eurobarometer survey, just 22% of Maltese people reported living within a five-minute walk of a green space, against an EU average of 50% – worse than every member state bar Romania. A follow-up survey found that only 51% said access to a green space was easy, compared with close to 100% in Denmark, Slovenia, Finland and Sweden. Perhaps an unfair comparison, as those countries do not have Mediterranean climates, but Malta’s summer heat is also compounded by having the lowest forest cover of any EU country, at just 4.3%.
Malta can’t control the climate, but it can control how it responds to it. The data indicates that it has more room to improve shade and access to green space than almost anywhere else in Europe – which also means more room to gain.
Green infrastructure is infrastructure
When we think about investment in infrastructure, we naturally think of roads, hospitals, schools and housing. But trees, parks and green spaces should belong on that list too. With temperatures rising across Europe, the case is no longer just an aesthetic one.
Studies across cities including Washington DC, Athens and Singapore, consistently find that increasing tree-canopy cover can measurably lower both air and surface temperatures. Air-temperature reductions are often in the region of 1–2°C, while pedestrian comfort may improve considerably more, since direct shade beneath a tree can substantially reduce the heat experienced by passersby. For a country like Malta, whose narrow streets already trap heat overnight, that difference is not marginal – it can determine whether the evening passiggata happens at all.
The health stakes are real too. More than 10,000 excess deaths have already been attributed to this year’s early heatwave in Europe with the vast majority aged over 65. Another study estimated that nearly 40% of deaths attributed to urban heat across Europe in 2015 could have been prevented had cities increased their tree cover to 30% of land area. Although forest cover and urban tree-canopy cover are not directly comparable, Malta’s 4.3% forest cover underlines the scale of its greening challenge and its opportunity.
Building on what already exists
Reassuringly, the conversation about making Malta greener has already begun. Project Green (projectgreen.mt) is creating and upgrading accessible and inclusive public parks and recreational spaces, and is striving to improve the quality of life for the people of Malta and Gozo. Its aim is to create eco friendly spaces a short walk from residents’ homes. These steps are hugely important, but Malta lacks one single, measurable national target around which to organise its efforts.
So, what if Malta adopted one – along the lines of: “By 2040, each Maltese and Gozitan resident should live within a five-minute walk of a shaded green space.”
Given that only 22% currently do, this is an ambitious but honest target – one that would give Project Green, local councils, and private property developers a shared metric to work towards, rather than merely a general direction of travel.
Thinking small to achieve something big
Malta does not have the space for large new parks, but it does have room for smaller interventions: pocket parks in unused corners, tree-lined pedestrian routes, green schoolyards, planted public squares instead of additional paving, and green roofs or living walls as standard features of new developments.
Species choice matters too. Malta’s native and Mediterranean trees – carob, olive, Aleppo pine, cypress and strawberry tree – are drought-tolerant once established, so greening towns need not place heavy long-term demands on the island’s water supply.
A business case, not just an environmental one
This is what may matter most to business readers.
Energy costs Research on US cities found that peak electricity demand rises by 2-4% for every 1°C increase in daily maximum temperature above a 15-20°C threshold, driven largely by air-conditioning load. Trees can help reduce this by cooling the ambient air and, more significantly, by shading buildings directly, cutting the demand for air-conditioning in the first place.
Property values This is one of the best-evidenced green-infrastructure effects globally. Studies have found that proximity to green space can add a significant premium to property prices. Even conservatively, a national shading target could also be considered a national property-value programme.
Footfall and retail Shaded, walkable streets keep shoppers outdoors for longer and encourage repeat visits, a pattern documented in several European high-street greening projects. To my knowledge Malta does not yet have a published local footfall study to cite. I believe the data exists so it may be worth publishing before the next round of streetscape investment, so the claim can be tested, rather than assumed.
Talent and tourism Malta already markets its climate and lifestyle to remote workers and international firms. A country that is visibly and measurably adapting to Mediterranean heat – rather than simply enduring it – makes a stronger pitch than one that is not.
None of this is to suggest that greening pays for itself instantly. What I hope to demonstrate is that green infrastructure can behave economically in much the same way as other infrastructure projects: an upfront cost with a quantifiable, compounding return.
A piece of a bigger puzzle
Importantly, this proposal needs not sit outside Malta’s national climate strategy. Instead, it supports one of its weakest areas.
The EU’s 2040 climate target commits member states to a 90% net reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions (relative to 1990 emissions) on the way to full climate neutrality by 2050. Malta’s own National Energy and Climate Plan sets a comparatively modest renewable energy target of 24.5% by 2030 – well below the EU-wide collective 42.5% goal. The plan itself attributes this gap to the island’s lack of space for solar and wind farms and the absence of rivers for hydropower.
Malta can’t simply generate its way out of this problem as larger member states can. With limited land for renewables, and cooling accounting for a growing share of energy use, reducing demand is especially important. Malta’s climate plan already recognises the need to cut heating and cooling demand, with the country recording the EU’s largest year-on-year increase in renewable heating and cooling in 2024, making Malta the fastest growing EU nation for green climate control over that year. A national shading target would therefore complement – not compete with – the existing energy strategy: reducing air-conditioning demand without placing further pressure on scarce land or water.
A concrete proposal (if you forgive the pun)
Malta already has many of the requisite building blocks in place: Project Green, cross-party interest, and community pressure. What is missing is a single national measure tying these efforts together, supported by incentives for incorporating greenery into new property and infrastructure developments. A five-minute shaded-green-space target could be embedded in planning policy, tracked by local councils and reported on annually, like any other infrastructure commitment.
Young trees planted this year will provide their greatest benefit not to us, but to generations to come. Malta has repeatedly shown that it can adapt and outperform its size. Measuring national progress by how much shade and green space we create, alongside how many roads and properties we build, would be a fitting next step – and, on the numbers above, a genuinely profitable and healthy one.
Beyond the economic case, proximity to nature is associated with lower stress, cleaner air and greater opportunities for summer exercise. Trees provide shade while helping to capture dust and pollutants. The benefits are environmental, economic, and profoundly human. What’s not to like?
Maria Darby-Walker is a non-executive director; Visiting Fellow, Oxford University and Business adviser / mentor
