Málaga has been the second Spanish city just after San Sebastian to join the Covenant of Mayors of the EU Action Plan for Energy Efficiency, whose objective is to reduce its CO2 emissions by 20% by the year 2020. This Sustainable Energy Action Plan includes measures to improve the energy performance of products, buildings and services, to improve the yield of energy production and distribution, to reduce the impact of transport on energy consumption, to facilitate financing and investments in the sector and to encourage and consolidate rational energy consumption behavior among the citizenship.

The Costa del Sol Convention Bureau emphasizes Málaga's efforts to become a truly green destination by joining the Green Meeting Industry Council, the premier global community solely dedicated to sustainability not only through education but also by spearheading research, policy and standards for the meetings and event industry, being the only organization in the meetings industry that connects planners and suppliers through sustainability. The GMIC seeks to transform the global meetings industry through sustainable practices which incorporate environmental considerations throughout all stages of a meeting in order to minimize the negative impact on the environment. The Council promotes environmentally responsible strategies through the collaborative efforts of meeting industry stakeholders, balancing economic,environmental, and community objectives.

The University of Malaga excels in reserach

The University of Malaga is raised with a good position in the ranking of academic staff and university researchers and in the number of patents that has requested between 2000 and 2007 according to a report published by the Fundación Conocimiento y Desarrollo (Spanish Foundation for Knowledge and Development).

Málaga occupies the seventh position of the Spanish universities regarding the number of doctors both teaching and carrying out research work, something that this Foundation considers to be a core value when the professional teams of a university decide to undertake a research project. The University of Málaga also occupies the position number seven in the ranking of Spanish universities that have requested patents after carrying out scientific research between 2000 and 2007, which is also a basic indicator to know the research activity of the university and the market orientation of the results achieved.