This Act establishes a legal framework for climate action and provides for the establishment of the Climate Action Authority, the national competent authority responsible for the exercise of climate action, to coordinate and oversee mitigation and adaptation policy and measures and any matters ancillary thereto, and to provide for the reporting of such climate action.
This Act contains provisions establishing duties: that it shall be the duty of every person, together with the Government to protect the climate and assist in the taking of preventive and remedial measures to protect the climate; and that it shall be the duty of the Government to protect the climate for the present and future generations. It also contains provisions relating to a Climate Action Fund.
This Act is a reform of the previous Climate Action Act, Act XVII of 2015 (Chapter 543), which has been repealed. The reforms include a Climate Action Authority responsible for the regulation regarding climate related matters in Malta, including setting national or sector-specific targets in consultation with respective Ministries and to prepare the national long-term strategy, the national adaptation strategy and the National Energy and Climate Plan. Another reform is the introduction of the National Climate Action Council comprised of experts in any climate-related fields including scientific, public policy, finance, economic and social fields, who will be an independent statutory body providing advice to the Maltese government on climate action in Malta.
