The Sustainabilist - Climate is Changing by Dubai Carbon

The Sustainabilist ISSUE 16

Climate is Changing

KEEPING CORAL FLORAL

ERA OF IMPLEMENTATION

ISBN 978 - 1978357310

Analysing Climate Impact on Regional Reefs

Looking at the Global Climate Action Plan

LOW CARBON CITIES

THE BRIGHT ALTERNATIVE Assessing the Worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Largest CSP Plant

Alternative Pathway to Economic Development

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Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, we . provide

Issue 16 | July 2019

he message of tolerance the UAE seeks to convey to the world includes in its scope the peaceful coexistence between people and their surrounding environment. The Founding Father of the nation, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, championed this message, and the country’s current wise leadership carries it forward. Climate change works on two platforms: devising and implementing government policy and targeting citizens and their attitudes toward sustainability.

Eng Waleed Bin Salman Chairman Dubai Carbon

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The Sustainabilist is published by Dubai Carbon. Articles reprinted in this issue are copyrighted 2019 by Dubai Carbon. All rights reserved. Reproduction in any manner, in whole or in part, without prior written permission of Dubai Carbon is expressively prohibited. Printed by: Al Ghurair Printing and Publishing LLC P.O. Box - 5613, Dubai, UAE. Nothing in this magazine shall be taken as technical or advice and DCCE waives any liability with respect to any representations made.The production of this magazine will be offset with local carbon credits.

Sustainability is not something that is limited to the government, or to the private sector; sustainability is a duty for each member of society and person on the planet. If we are talking about having a sustainable society, it is imperative that we make sure that everyone is contributing to this vision. These efforts are supported by a legislative framework that ensures that the country’s development is sustainable and does not come at the expense of the environment. The UAE’s commitment to diversifying their energy mix is central to our longterm sustainable development objectives and plans to combat climate change. Renewables are increasingly seen as the most competitive solution for new power generation and as such are a key driver for the global green economy. The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park is the largest single-site solar park in the world based on the Independent Power Producer (IPP) model, with a capacity of

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The UAE’s commitment to diversifying their energy mix is central to our longterm sustainable development objectives and plans to combat climate change.

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Letter from the Editor in Chief

5,000 megawatts (MW) by 2030 and total investments worth AED 50 billion. The UAE accounted for 68 per cent of the total installed capacity in 2018, hosts close to 79 per cent of the installed solar PV (photovoltaic) capacity in the GCC and Dubai has set global precedence by achieving record low prices for solar PV.

The Earth has a finite capacity to provide resources and absorb waste. Failure to heed evidence-based warning on climate change will lead to loss of invaluable species and entire eco-systems that play a vital role in humanity’s survival. It is time to act now.

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Smovies Short Film Competition 2019 launches UAE climate change challenge The Smovies Short Film Competition 2019, a strategic collaboration between BrandMoxie and VOX Cinemas, launched a regional film challenge aimed at fighting climate change globally. HE Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment, officially inaugurated the competition. The current challenge marks the eighth edition of the competition under the theme ‘A Planet Worth Fighting For’, since the establishment of The Smovies in 2015 by BrandMoxie, a marketing company.

Therefore, we use normal paper, but offset it. Under a circular economy perspective, the latter is more viable from both a resource consumption pattern and the circular life of resources.

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Shipping plastic waste just got harder More than 180 nations have agreed in Geneva to add mixed plastic scrap to the Basel Convention, the treaty that controls the international movement of hazardous waste. Under the amended treaty, exporters must first obtain consent from the governments of receiving nations before shipping the most contaminated, mixed, or unrecyclable plastic waste. Requiring that kind of special attention is regarded as a crucial step in helping the world gain control of a plastic pollution crisis that has already seen 100 million tonnes of plastic waste leak into the world’s oceans, according to United Nations figures.

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with severe impact on the animal species which will be most exposed to the impact of climate change. These life altering predictions and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society can be curbed with a drastic cut in carbon emissions, reforestation and creation of carbon sinks, enabled by new technologies and innovations. Schneider Electric – a leader in digital transformation of energy management and automation – constantly strives to make the planet more viable for the survival of our future generations. Sustaining natural resources available today is pivotal to maintain our way of life for future generations.

FEATURE

How to Build Low Carbon Societies for a Better Future? By Schneider Electric

ccording to the latest data received in May from the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii, the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere increased to more than 415 parts per million (ppm), far higher than at any point in the last 800,000 years. This alarming observation warrants collective action from the corporate world and individuals alike to take measures to reduce our impact on CO2 emissions. A literature review published in October 2018 by Carbon Brief, a UK-based climate change publisher and analyst firm, 6

found that in a world that is 2 degrees warmer, there will be 25 per cent more hot days and heatwaves – which will bring with it major health risks and wildfires hazards. The report found 37 per cent of the population will be exposed to at least one severe heatwave every five years, and the average length of droughts will increase by four months, exposing some 388 million people to water scarcity, and 194.5 million to severe droughts. Extreme weather involving floods, cyclones and typhoons will increase, wildfires will become more frequent and destroy agriculture land and crop harvest yields. Ecosystems will be devastated

With efforts to cater to stakeholders with environmentally responsible solutions and encourage operational efficiency at the workplace, optimising energy consumption is at the forefront of the company’s business model. With integrated and digitised solutions such as EcoStruxure™ - a global, homogeneous and agnostic platform for efficiency and sustainability, Schneider Electric paves the way for a digitised and efficient future with its offering. Ahmed Khashan, President of Gulf Countries & Pakistan at Schneider Electric commented: “Energy is at the heart of our civilisation. As far back in history as we can trace, major economic developments have emerged each time new sources of energy were discovered but the news that has made maximum headlines in the recent past have been about the excessive carbon emissions leading to global warming. With CO2 levels in the atmosphere hitting an all-time high resulting in drastic climate change, it is more evident than

Issue 16 | July 2019

ever before that investment in new technologies and greater global efforts are essential to reduce CO2 emissions in the short and long-term going forward. Our mission at Schneider Electric is to provide alternatives for energy consumption for a more sustainable future, one that is not heavily carbonised. We believe that the future will be electric.” Schneider Electric’s latest annual report published in March highlighted the positive efforts taking place in the energy sector to transition to a clean energy future. While global energy demand is growing at one per cent annually, electricity demand is growing at more than twice that rate, even 4x according to more aggressive scenarios. These numbers are the result of several factors including urbanisation at a global scale which is increasing the rate of electrification, especially in residential and commercial buildings, followed by industrialisation of new economies, as electricity is the primary source of energy for modern development and digitisation of businesses and society and modern appliances and applications are all powered by electricity. The electronification of transportation modes is also driving the biggest energy shift from oil to electricity in the modern world. The primary objective behind incorpor-ating innovation and transformation is to tackle the obstacles on the demand side which has immense untapped potential given the current state of the centralised architecture. The demand side, where 70 per cent of the world’s energy - according to International Energy Agency – is still used today

There are several advantages to this new all-electric renewable-based energy paradigm: Renewable energies will trigger the power sector decarbonisation. In addition, electrification of end-use will enable migrating other traditional fossil-based energy uses to clean electricity.

Renewable energies (wind and solar) are obviously distributed across the globe, even though not completely equally. Accessible “reserves” correspond to three times the total of fossil fuels retrievable on the planet… and they renew daily.

The migration towards an all-electric renewable based system could nearly double the overall energy system efficiency, through the combination of a power sector relying on renewable energies and electrification of major uses of alternative energies (transportation, heating, etc. – traditionally two to five times less efficient depending on the application).

without any efficiency performance requirements, provides an untapped source of energy and financial savings. Digitisation of the demand side is the principle driving the energy transition towards clean electrification, i.e. all electric and fully decarbonised, used in the most efficient way. The solution to tackle these increasing challenges can be broken into two steps. First, decarbonising the power sector with renewable energies. Second, electrifying massively the end-uses of energy. The Energy Transition Commission has estimated that power decarbonisation combined with electrification could lead to a 25 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions by 2040. The future is thus undoubtedly electric. The transition to it remains however a key topic of today to create a better world for future generations through optimised energy consumption and building of low carbon societies.

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Sustainability Bloggers We are looking for passionate green minded keyboard happy writers to stream their contributions straight into our publications. We are building an empowered community of storytellers who would be invited to events, interview VIPSs or simply research topics. The role will be freelance and autonomous and whether you have previous writing/journalism experience or not, we want to hear from you.

If interested, please visit: www.dcce.ae/careers

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FEATURE

The UAE Makes the Business Case for Climate Action By Ministry of Climate Change & Environment (MOCCAE)

nited Nations SecretaryGeneral António Guterres called climate change the “defining issue of our time”. In recent years, its staggering impacts have manifested in more frequent, more intense extreme weather events, calling for an urgent, all-hands-on-deck approach to climate action. To chart the global response to climate change and inspire even greater climate 8

ambition, Guterres has convened stakeholders from around the world in the UAE on June 30 and July 1. Hundreds of government and business representatives are participating in the Abu Dhabi Climate Meeting that aims to lay the groundwork for the UN Climate Action Summit in New York in September 2019 through synthesising policy, technology, and finance into a set of deliverables that heads of state and governments can sign up for at the high-level gathering.

Through the action-focused meeting, the UAE aims to reframe climate change as an economic opportunity and make the business case for climate action. The UAE has always remained committed to investing in promising, future-oriented sectors, including renewable energy. Guided by the UAE Energy Strategy 2050, the country has pledged to increase its share of clean energy in the domestic energy mix to 50 per cent and to reduce

Issue 16 | July 2019

its greenhouse gas emissions by 70 per cent. Mega projects, such as the 100 MW Shams 1 concentrated solar power plant, the 1.17 GW Noor Abu Dhabi, and the 5 GW Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, have helped the country break the world record for the lowest solar energy cost multiple times and emerge as a 21st century renewable energy superpower. Safeguarding human health and wellbeing from the ravages of climate change is another key domain of the climate business case, though it has not yet garnered proper attention. With more than 23 million people being displaced each year due to climate change, and between seven and nine million deaths occurring every year from air pollution that is linked to high-emission greenhouse gas sources, investments in climate action can result in an estimated US$200 billion in avoided global health costs per

year. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), implementing the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) announced under the Paris Agreement will help save one million lives annually. In the 15 countries that emit the most greenhouse gases, the health impacts of air pollution are estimated to cost more than four per cent of their GDP, while meeting the NDCs would cost around one per cent of the global GDP. Climate action does make economic sense. Similarly, the business case for climate adaptation has never been clearer. Climate-proofing key sectors – health, infrastructure, energy, and the environment – through equipping them to withstand the unavoidable impacts of climate change is essential to enable sustainable socio-economic development. The financial toll of climate-induced extreme weather events – including hurricanes, droughts, and floods – is

growing: people losing their housing, companies losing sales and assets, and governments going into debt to rebuild infrastructure. According to estimates from the UN and the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), every US$1 spent on preparation for climate disasters could save US$7 to US$12 in disaster relief costs. Cheap renewable energy, better health outcomes, and adaptation are prime examples of how the benefits of acting now outweigh the costs of inaction in the future. Making the participants of the Abu Dhabi Climate Meeting understand the economic gains from climate action can go a long way in expediting concerted endeavors to tackle the climate emergency. The meeting encompasses ministerial and executive roundtables and plenary

The Sustainabilist | CLIMATE CHANGE

sessions. A Leaders’ Roundtable on Raising Ambition provides an opportunity to hear from ministers and global leaders on their plans to accelerate climate action to overcome the roadblocks to achieving the scale and speed mandated by the Paris Agreement, underscored by the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). A Leaders’ Roundtable on Nationally Determined Contributions Enhancement also takes place to analyse the lessons learnt from the first round of the NDCs and to identify best practices for their enhancement, including involving governments in their design and implementation.

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The UAE’s hosting of the meeting as a precursor to the UN Climate Action Summit reflects the country’s globally acclaimed role as a crucial convener of key players in the global climate change conversation.

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Furthermore, the Leaders’ Roundtable on Energy Transition explores the viability of and the political prerequisites for pursuing transformative reductions of greenhouse gas emissions in the energy sector. In partnership with WHO, the Abu Dhabi Climate Meeting hosts the Climate and Health Ministers’ Meeting. It convenes health and climate ministers as well as non-government representatives to 10

identify the top steps that can collectively save billions of dollars in healthcare costs as well as change the narrative on the rationale for action. The Abu Dhabi Climate Meeting has drawn the participation of representatives of the public and private sectors at the local, regional, and global level with a strong emphasis on youth. In addition to the inclusion of youth in the government delegation, the UAE is sponsoring the attendance of youth delegates from civil society and the private sector. Given its large youth contingent, the agenda of the Abu Dhabi Climate Meeting includes two events tailored to young people. The Youth Circle offers youth representatives the opportunity to interview the UN Secretary-General and the meeting’s headline speakers. Her Excellency Shamma bint Suhail Faris Al Mazrui, UAE Minister of State for Youth Affairs, and Jayathma Wickramanayake, the UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth, moderate the session. The second event – the Youth Consultation Session – features a dialogue between youth delegates and the chairs of the roundtables on the key deliverables of the meeting. The UAE’s hosting of the meeting as a precursor to the UN Climate Action Summit reflects the country’s globally acclaimed role as a crucial convener of key players in the global climate change conversation. In 2014, the country hosted the Abu Dhabi Ascent, the preparatory meeting for the then UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Climate Summit that resulted in the creation and official recognition of the first public-private climate action commitments that were adopted at the UN climate negotiations in 2015 in Paris.

The Sustainabilist | CLIMATE CHANGE

FEATURE

A Leading City

Dubai | The First City in the Middle East and North Africa to achieve LEED for Cities Platinum Certification.

By Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA)

ubai is playing a pivotal role in addressing climate change, and has a range of clearly-defined strategies to make it a sustainable city. All of these strategies have specific goals. One is the Dubai Carbon Abatement Strategy, with a target to reduce emissions by 16% by 12

2021, which also supports the Dubai Demand Side Management strategy to reduce the use of electricity and water by 30% by 2030. In addition, the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 has a goal to generate 75% of Dubaiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s total power output from clean eneray by 2050. All

these strategies contribute to the Green Economy for Sustainable Development Initiative launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and the Dubai Plan 2021 to make Dubai a smart and sustainable city. These strategies are already in play and have begun to achieve results. In recent years, Dubai has been certified by the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group. This is a global network of cities committed to tackling climate change and protecting the planet. This group has united cities around the world to take the C40 pledge that they will develop inclusive climate change plans by the end of 2020 to limit warming to

Issue 16 | July 2019

Dubai Achieves LEED Platinum Certification In April 2019, the US Green Building Council (USGBC) & Green BusinessCertification Inc. (GBCI) awarded Dubai the LEED for Cities Platinum Certification. This makes Dubai the first city in the Middle East and North Africa to receive this certification, to maintain its position as the region’s pioneer in sustainability. The LEED for Cities certification benchmarks a city’s commitment to sustainable development by measuring its performance, by focusing on outcomes from ongoing sustainability efforts. This is measured by a range of indicators relating to energy, water, transportation, waste and human experience. This last factor includes quality of life, health and safety, education, prosperity and living costs.

globally competitive in energy, water, and air quality. One of the ways the Emirate is doing this is a series of innovative projects in renewable and clean energy;

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This award is a tribute to the efforts and vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and the diligent and cohesive efforts of government authorities in the Emirate.

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1.5°C and adapt to the impact of climate change by reducing Green House Gas emissions that threaten the global climate.

A Collaborative Effort The LEED Platinum rating shows the combined efforts of Dubai Government’s authorities to offer a safe, sustainable and happy experience for Dubai’s citizens and residents. The main contributors were the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), the Roads and Transport Authority, Dubai Municipality, Dubai Police, and Dubai Statistics Centre, along with other government agencies. Dubai was rated based on 90% of its population, excluding areas of low-population density, such as farms and rural areas.

using the latest developed and innovative technologies and solutions. Dubai has developed and managed integrated and sustainable global systems in healthcare, currently adopting the latest innovations. For transportation, the government is balancing roads with mass-transit systems such as Dubai Metro and Dubai Tram, to make them the ideal choice in mobility for people, as they can reduce the carbon emissions of private vehicles.

Dubai’s objectives include consolidating the concept of sustainability and being

Dubai Government is also deploying the latest smart technologies in policing to

preserve and protect the environment. This is done by implementing green initiatives and adopting global best practices, while keeping abreast of the latest carbon reduction approaches. As a result of these combined efforts towards the Emirate’s strategy to become a smart and sustainable city, Dubai now ranks favourably alongside other highly sustainable cities such as Washington DC, Phoenix and Chicago in the USA. A vision to become a globally leading sustainable innovative corporation The efforts to reduce electricity and water use, along with increasing the share of Dubai’s energy mix to include clean energy, supports Dubai’s growth, as well as DEWA’s vision to become a globally leading sustainable innovative corporation. “The Platinum Rating is the highest rating for a city’s sustainability performance benchmark. Qualifying cities are measured within a comprehensive framework that uses 14 metrics relating to the energy and water sector, waste treatment, transportation, human experience, education, prosperity, equality, health, and safety. This award is a tribute to the efforts and vision of Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and the diligent and cohesive efforts of government authorities in the Emirate. Dubai has received numerous awards and honours for sustainability practices, and the Emirate is based on a strong infrastructure and services aimed at improving the quality of life for all citizens, residents and visitors. This is in line with Dubai’s intent to maintain the security and safety of the community, which ultimately benefits our beloved country,” said HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of DEWA. 13

The Sustainabilist | CLIMATE CHANGE

#THEGREENECONOMIST

The Economics of Climate Change By Ivano Iannelli CEO, Dubai Carbon

he average human contributes about 5 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) every year, about a quarter of which will remain in the atmosphere for well over a millennium. Climate change will affect the basic elements of life for people around the world – access to water, food production, health, and the environment. Hundreds of millions of people could suffer from hunger, water shortages and coastal flooding as the world warms. Some predict that if we don’t act, the overall costs and risks of climate change will be equivalent to losing at least 5% of global GDP each year, now and forever. If a wider range of risks and impacts is taken into account, the estimates of damage could rise to 20% of GDP or more. In contrast, the costs of action – reducing greenhouse gas emissions to avoid the worst impacts of climate change – can be limited to around 1% of global GDP each year. The investment that takes place in the next 10-20 years 14

will have a profound effect on the climate in the second half of this century and in the next. Our actions now and over the coming decades could create risks of major disruption to economic and social activity, on a scale similar to those associated with the great wars and the economic depression of the first half of the 20th century. And it will be difficult or impossible to reverse these changes.

The world does not need to choose between averting climate change and promoting growth and development. Changes in energy technologies and in the structure of economies have created opportunities to decouple growth from greenhouse gas emissions. Indeed, ignoring climate change will eventually damage economic growth.

Because climate change is a global problem, the response to it must be international. It must be based on a shared vision of long-term goals and agreement on frameworks that will accelerate action over the next decade, and it must build on mutually reinforcing approaches at the national, regional and international level.

Climate-change policy can help to root out existing inefficiencies. At the company level, implementing climate policies may draw attention to money-saving opportunities. At the economy-wide level, climatechange policy may be a lever for reforming inefficient energy systems and removing distorting energy subsidies, on which governments around the world currently spend billions of dollars every year.

Action on climate change will also create significant business opportunities, as new markets are created in low-carbon energy technologies and other low-carbon goods and services. These markets could grow to be worth hundreds of billions of dollars each year, and employment in these sectors will expand accordingly.

The transition to a low-carbon economy will bring challenges for competitiveness but also opportunities for growth.

Issue 16 | July 2019

INTERVIEW

Italian Ambition

is tackling?

hat would you say are Italy’s three top environmental issues that the country

The main environmental challenges that Italy is facing are closely linked to its unique landscape and geographical features. Safeguarding the Italian territory, gifted with a specific soil composition and progressively subject to urbanisation, is a national priority. The recently approved “Protect Ital” Plan unlocks investments for €11 bn to be used for soil conservation, reforestation and preventive measures aimed at mitigating the hydrogeological risk.

www.ambabudhabi.esteri.it/

In conversation with HE Liborio Stellino, Ambassador of Italy to the UAE, on progress and solutions for tackling climate change.

With more than 8,000 km of coastline, Italy bears great responsibilities in the protection of the marine environment around it. Together with the European Union and the other Mediterranean countries, Italy is supporting innovative legislation to curb sea pollution, promoting sustainable fishing and fish farming systems, reducing single-use plastics and protecting marine habitats and wildlife. Moreover, Italy is fully committed to achieve the targets set in the Paris Climate Agreement to stop global warming and reverse climate change. With the 2030 Energy and Climate Plan, Italy is acting on five main areas (decarbonisation; energy efficiency; energy security; internal market regulation; competitiveness and

technological research) to monitor the progress and secure the completion of all the measures that will enable the energy transition towards a cleaner world. What are the areas of sustainability where most progress was made? Since the early 1950s, Italy has been a pioneer of renewable energies as a means to diversify energy supply sources, limiting the country’s carbon footprint. Today, in addition to the well-established hydroelectric and geothermal power sources, new forms of renewable energy (wind, solar and biomass) are on the rise. In the last decade, the contribution of clean sources to the national energy production doubled up to 103.9 TWh generated in 2017. Waste sorting has also 15

The Sustainabilist | CLIMATE CHANGE

What are the main technological advancements and innovations that Italy is implementing to tackle environmental issues? Italian businesses are very active in developing new eco-friendly solutions for fast changing industries. For example, our Industry has just been able to create a whole set of innovative materials that allow new buildings to increase energy efficiency by 60%. Meanwhile, in the solar field, Italian leading companies are about to start the production of a revolutionary double-faced photovoltaic panel capable of providing a wider exposure to sunrays and accumulate 22% more energy. What are the biggest areas of focus for green investment for the government in Italy? According to the latest report of the Ministry of Environment, green investments in Italy are rising at a yearly pace of 2.3%, with a stronger impact on high-tech SMEs (+12%). Over the next decade three sectors will receive the largest share of investment: residential requalification, photovoltaic panels and household mobility. The three of them match the national need to prioritise investments aimed at ensuring better infrastructures and constructions, increasing energy efficiency and diversifying supply sources. What trends have you noticed in terms of green investments happening in the country? What about green investments 16

coming from outside of the country? Through the Industry 4.0 Plan, Italy is eyeing greater domestic and international investments in green and innovative domains. In the first two years of implementation, the Plan has mobilised more than €10 bn in additional investments, with a fair share flowing into the Italian excellence sectors such as industrial machinery and biopharmaceutical products, paying particular attention at reducing hazardous waste and energy consumption. Moreover, the tax credit introduced by the Plan has fostered innovation in green finance, R&D

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The cooperation on sustainable development between Italy and the UAE operates on both the public and the private fields.

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been gaining wider coverage throughout the national territory and in people’s everyday life: more than 52% of produced waste was sorted in 2016, with an average 5% annual increase over the last years.

and start-ups. Green banking, though lagging behind other European countries, is slowly developing in Italy and attracting fresh capital. Simultaneously, foreign investments flows towards the Italian green sector are also increasing. What are some of the best practices, in terms of sustainability - global or regional - the Italian government is intending to implement in their own country? In line with the experience of other European countries, Italy has introduced this March a new system of incentives for the purchase of electric cars for households. This measure, together with the congestion charges and bans

on polluting vehicles imposed by numerous city councils, aims at modifying the mobility habits of the Italians. In cooperation with the European Union and in the framework of the Horizon 2020 Programme, Italy intends to implement the concept of circular economy on a large scale, with the aim to modify the business models of private stakeholders towards a more eco-friendly structure and a more efficient waste management system. What sustainability-related initiatives implemented in the UAE inspire you? I am personally impressed by the majestic Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, the largest single-site solar park in the world. I think it represents a new paradigm for the power plants of the future, a place capable of combining a powerful solar field with a research centre and a desalinisation facility. I wonder what benefits this model would bring if applied across the Middle East: a game-changer for energy and water security in desert areas. What areas of collaboration between UAE and Italy have been or can be developed, regarding sustainability? The cooperation on sustainable development between Italy and the UAE operates on both the public and the private fields. In September last year, the two governments signed a Memorandum of Understanding that promotes joint projects, favours experts exchanges and implements capacity building and technology transfer measures. In parallel, Italian enterprises are looking with growing interest to the business opportunities here in the UAE. Following the steps of the big renowned Italian brands in the UAE and in the world.

The Sustainabilist | CLIMATE CHANGE

INTERVIEW

Designing a Greener Future Stephan Frantzen, Design Director of P&T Architects and Engineers provides insights on green buildings and the future of sustainable architecture in Dubai.

our background and architectural style

My parents were opera singers, writers and painters -both of them- so I spent time in opera buildings or at home surrounded by artistic activities, but staying at my grandparent’s manor in Sweden turned me into an architect. The place was magical with a formal French garden surrounded by an English garden with a grotto, a dug-out lake for swimming, stables, greenhouse etc. The house was filled with artwork, beautiful furniture and books. An inspirational place to spend holidays. My interest in design was reinforced by growing up in Denmark where schools are designed by the best architects and furnished with classics like Arne Jacobsen’s ‘Ant’ chair. None of that led to a personal style. I believe

that local climate, culture, the actual use, the budget etc. leads to the design that should not be forced into a personal style. In other words: every project holds unique opportunities for the architect to discover and optimise, the focus being on the end-user who should find the design purposeful and pleasing. The focus on the end-user is why architecture is so fascinating in my view, so diverse and habituation is just not on. Role of green buildings in your work In 1970 the Danes built the first zeroenergy-house due to the oil crises. Subsequent legislation, incentives and introduction of district-heating halved the energy consumption in housing over a few decades! At the Royal Academy architect students learned about sustainability ever since, and projects address orientation

Issue 16 | July 2019

of buildings, insulation thicknesses, double glazing and solar water heaters on the roof and now solar panels. Since graduating I have pushed sustainability working in the Far East, London, New York and lately in Dubai my motto being ‘Push it till it breaks’. Push sustainable solutions until the clients ‘have had enough’. Knowledge obliges architects to be responsible and push sustainability. Greatest challenge designing for environmental sustainability We have the technology, passive and active and we know what to do, so the challenge is to use the knowledge, to develop legislation, offer incentives and change people’s habits. Use the knowledge: Numerous projects in Dubai do not provide shaded outdoor walkways as if heat gain from the sun is not understood and known!? So, without legislation there is little progress. Incentives are good but can be complicated: in Australia a private French power supplier sued and stopped the governments solar panel incentives. Changing habits to save energy is easy but few are up to it: take a morning shower: collect running water before it is hot in a bucket and irrigate your plants + 3 seconds to get wet + turn off the water

while washing + 10 seconds to rinse. Imagine the savings in desalination in Dubai EVERY day!

Joining P&T and awareness of sustainable design

‘Having made a difference to the better’ with no ambition to be celebrated for it. P&T’s motto is: “We improve people’s lives.” There are two types of architects: Masters of and Servants of Architecture. The Masters are typically Star Architects that have their personal style. The Servants of Architecture focus on the uniqueness of the task. I belong to the latter searching for solutions based on objective observations and analysis, but I do believe there is space for both types of architects. Not every building needs to be sustainable but the vast majority of our buildings must be.

By leaving Denmark - a leader in sustainability- and moving to Hong Kong I left sustainable design. I joined P&T in Hong Kong 30 years ago and no one in Hong Kong talked about sustainability until Swire Property brought sustainability awareness to Hong Kong with a large exhibition in 2000. Legislation changed and by now P&T has designed several LEED Platinum buildings in Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok. P&T Dubai received the award for the most sustainable large project in KSA in 2012 for the 70 story Burj Rafal tower in Riyadh based entirely on P&T’s best practices in architecture, structure and MEP, which is great. So yes, the awareness is increasing.

Dubai and sustainable design

Sustainability and your work

Dubai is promoting sustainability from the top, via legislation, incentives for solar power harvesting and power can be sold to the public grid. We have district cooling and grey water production. The key is that power is supplied by the government with no private commercial interest to slow progress providing so many opportunities for progress.

Sustainability is the biggest of all challenges for architects. We can’t keep consuming and polluting as we do. Think about it: Dubai was sustainable just decades ago when there was no electricity, but also cooler. A sheikh showed me an area close to the water with low bushes and explained that these bushes cover the coast area reducing heat generation, so when the breeze from the Gulf flowed inland over the bushes, temperatures were lower. In all our design work at P&T we include sustainability in the concept design stage determining the end result, checked via in-house 3D simulation models that tests heat gain, light intensity in rooms, wind movements and more.

Ultimate work goal

P&T was invited to participate in a zero carbon headquarter competition in Dubai. Our solution was a compact building using few materials and minimal façade surface to insulate so less energy was needed for cooling. The winning scheme has huge façade surfaces and a huge amount of materials are used to build it. We must be honest about sustainability and understand that it starts with the construction, continues with operation and ends with longevity.

So, remember to ‘push sustainability till it breaks’. That is the best we can do as architects. 19

The Sustainabilist | CLIMATE CHANGE

FEATURE

Climate Change: Challenges and Hopes By Corrado Sommariva CEO and Founder, Sustainable Water and Power Consultants (SWPC)

cience and denial

Science is clear about climate change: uncontrollable global temperature rise could result in billions of people exposed to extremely high temperatures, flooding and food shortages. Already in 2017, 39 million people suffered acute food insecurity because of the intensity of natural disasters, making climate change the most dangerous threat to the planet ( Source: World Economic Forum â&#x20AC;&#x153;the Global Risk report 2019â&#x20AC;?) and it was estimated that if the world warms by 3.7oC the damage cost will be over US$ 551 trillion which is more than the overall wealth existing in the planet. In countries like India nearly 1.8 million people die every year for the effects of air pollution (Source: WHO). 20

This is a reality that most of the world population has not yet seriously acknowledged. On one side because climate denying media present the effects of climate change as unavoidable, on the other side a large part of the humanity simply does not seem to care. Poor education on sustainability and environmental matters and the perception that there are more important issues to be dealt with are leading this misconception. Behavioral changes that are also important to significantly mitigate the impact of climate change do not occur except for a small portion of the population while majority go about business as usual. It is not surprising therefore that last year, global energy-related CO2 emissions rose to the highest level ever.

The need for a global approach One of the problems that makes most difficult to take a uniform approach from a regulatory standpoint derives from the fact that unsustainable practices and their consequences on the environment are no longer local but have become global. Greenhouse emissions in one country may have extreme effects somewhere else in the planet, thousands of kilometers away, and not in the very country where these emissions have been generated. A study published in Germany showed that 88% of the conifer forests in eastern and middle Europe are threatened by pollution; 84 % of the deciduous forests in eastern Europe are also severely damaged. These

Issue 16 | July 2019

Response to emergency taking shape Science is also clear on what the remedies are to avoid this course of events. Technology is helping in reducing emissions thanks to emerging renewable energy. Important behavioral changes in food waste reduction are taking shape but in many cases countermeasures are really easy to implement. According to Thomas Crowter (Source: Project Drawdown) planting a trillion trees, which means increasing by 20% the forested area in the planet, would eradicate a decade of carbon emissions.

forests are distant hundreds of miles from the nearest polluters source. As the causes were global, the effects from local became also global. Wild weather is forcing millions of people from their homes: in Indonesia there have been 850,000 displacements triggered by tsunamis and floods, in Kerala there have been 1.5 million people displaced because of the floods but also in California 350,000 people were displaced because of the wildfires of unprecedented strength (Source: IDMC). As the effect of unsustainable industrial practice is global, setting up policies at national government level which enforce the need for payment of the environmental liabilities is useful but it is unlikely to bring

Many countries have already pledged ambitious tree planting targets: Pakistan has already planted one billion out of the total ten billion trees in their reforestation program; India has pledged to undertake a program of reforestation of 12% of its land and the Great Green wall is a project aiming at restoring one hundred million hectares of degraded land in Africa. In addition to the carbon dioxide benefits the trees will contain temperature at local level and mitigate the effects of floods. At the same time the danger of temperature rising above 1.5oC offers an incredible opportunity to transform into more livable places and a green revolution takes place at city levels at large. London city planning to transform the city into a natural park, increasing by 10% the city tree canopy, encouraging the resident to turn the grey spaces in green and replacing garden decking with grass. By putting nature in the heart of the city a new concept is getting introduced: the natural part city where residents and nature

â&#x20AC;&#x153;

Greenhouse emissions in one country may have extreme effects somewhere else in the planet, thousands of kilometers away and not in the very country where these emissions have been generated. live in harmony.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;

about a significant contribution. A global approach is required.

In the future, a large majority of the population is going to live in megacities and this concept is going to maintain the link to nature which is necessary for the well-being of humanity. New York as well, has one of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most ambitious targets to fight climate change starting from making organic recycling mandatory across the city (Source: New York City Times), single use plastic foodware is also going to be banned cutting down the amount of plastic that would go to landfill. The city is introducing a gradual reduction in the meat intake for New York inhabitants (beef is one of the highest emitters of CO2 equivalent) and also intends to run on 100% clean energy, both as a reduction of the energy losses associated to the design of the tall buildings, and importing hydropower energy from Canada. 21

The Sustainabilist | CLIMATE CHANGE

“

The UAE already hosted the ‘Ascent’ that prepared the UN’s first Climate Summit in 2014, and this second UAE summit is yet another global recognition of the country’s regional leadership on the matter of decarbonisation.

“

Issue 16 | July 2019

I AM THE SUSTAINABILIST

Gerard Mestrallet

Co-Chair of the Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition and Honorary Chairman of ENGIE

ave sustainability and environmental issues always been a passion of yours? How did you first get involved, and how did you develop your passion? For more than 20 years I have led the ENGIE Group, which provides solutions that are essential to the livelihood of millions of people across the world: energy first and foremost, but also water and waste management, which were part of our business portfolio for nearly a decade. As a leader of businesses that highly benefit from natural resources, I have – for obvious reasons – always been focused on the long-term and attuned to sustainability.Today sustainability is, more than ever, a pressing need, especially to address climate change, and we cannot rely only on legislators to shift course. Society is also turning to the private sector, and therefore companies are key to address the challenge, and we need to push for new market models. Have you actively tried to align your career with your passion for sustainability? For my part, I have personal convictions. I have been campaigning to raise awareness of climate issues for many years. At the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in 2009, business leaders were not convinced by climate issues. This is why, for the preparation of the Paris negotiations of COP21, I strongly supported the establishment of the ‘Business Dialogue’, a platform to get the business actively involved in climate policy together with the public sector,

and of which I became the President. The platform acted as a real catalyst, moving quickly from discussion to concrete action of leading businesses to accelerate the transition to the low-carbon economy and deliver climate-oriented solutions. In the Energy sector, the shift has been spectacular. We had not experienced a technological revolution in power generation over the past 50 years, but now it is unstoppable because of the fast-moving developments in technology, but also in people’s behavior. Consumers are no longer passive, and they want to understand, manage and even produce their energy themselves. Moreover, the digital revolution will have significant consequences on the control and optimisation of energy systems. These profound changes are set to continue, while others are yet to occur. It’s an energy revolution, with a wealth of challenges and opportunities. Where do you see your commitment to sustainability progressing in the future? My focus will remain on climate change and more specifically on carbon-cutting policies. Today, I am the Co-Chair of the global Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition (CPLC) and, as such, I spend a lot of time supporting and promoting evidence of successful carbon pricing mechanisms. At ENGIE, we were by the way, one of the first companies to sign the Declaration launched by the World Bank in 2014 for the generalisation of carbon pricing. We introduced an internal carbon price to align the company with the low-carbon transition and that drove – among others – our

decision to stop investing in coal. This is just one illustration of how carbon pricing systems can leverage change. I firmly believe in their effectiveness, they induce transparency, foster greater use of clean energy and energy efficiency, move the market towards green financing solutions, and favor the development of a new economy. That belief inspires my mission at CPLC: we want to engage with local key stakeholders worldwide on the use of carbon mechanisms in order to sustain the dialogue and, ultimately, to co-design smart solutions that work in their environment and contribute to the resilience of their economies. Where do you see Dubai and the UAE in this? The support of the UAE played a key role both in the success of the 2014 Montreal Protocol to phase out the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFC), and of the Paris negotiations in 2015. Dubai and the UAE are leading the way to decarbonising the region, first and foremost with the very successful development of solar energy, but also with their increasing efforts in energy efficiency through innovation and smart solutions, as well as with the emergence of carbon-cutting policies and practices. In October 2018, I was given the opportunity to meet and discuss with HE Dr Thani Al Zeyoudi, Minister of Climate Change & Environment of the UAE, and with HE Saeed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of DEWA. I am extremely grateful for their positive response to our proposal to co-explore the potential of carbon mechanisms in the UAE, which – in the frame of the UN pre-Climate summit that the UAE will host in June – will be even more relevant. The UAE already hosted the ‘Ascent’ that prepared the UN’s first Climate Summit in 2014, and this second UAE summit is yet another global recognition of the country’s regional leadership on the matter of decarbonisation. 23

The Sustainabilist | CLIMATE CHANGE

Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) concluded in Poland at the end of 2018 with mixed sentiments. On the one hand, the 196 countries participating in the conference (also known as COP 24) accomplished to agree on close to 100 pages of detailed guidelines on how each country is expected to take action. This includes reducing greenhouse gas emissions, adapting to the negative impacts of climate change and mobilising finance to the poorest who will suffer the most.

FEATURE

The Era of Implementation: How the UN Mobilises the World on Climate Change Post-2018 Senior Research Fellow, Emirates Diplomatic Academy

T 26

But in May this year, we broke the record of surpassing a level of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations (415 ppm) not seen in 3 million years. And our emissions are growing.

By Dr Mari Luomi

he United Nations has delivered us an extraordinarily ambitious and comprehensive climate change agreement. More than two decades of negotiations culminated last December in the adoption of a

On the other hand, recent findings of climate science and the reality of current emissions trajectories cast a long shadow on the achievements of the international community so far. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recently concluded that global emissions should be reduced to half, from their current levels by 2030, in order to avoid the worst impacts. And to stand a chance of averting a total catastrophe, we need to achieve ‘net zero emissions’ (a balance of humanmade emissions and emission removals) by the second half of the century.

detailed ‘rulebook’ for turning the Paris Agreement into action. We are now fully in the era of implementation. And this means the hard part has just begun. Negotiations under the UN Framework

So what does the United Nations have in stock for attempting to radically change course? The UN cannot accelerate technological development or change consumer behaviour. Its two core competencies are in creating and overseeing international law and in bringing countries together around shared political commitments.

Issue 16 | July 2019

In the area of international law, the UN now has the Paris Agreement, which has a two-part mechanism aimed at bridging the gap between action and science. Every five years, starting from 2018, the parties to the Agreement come together to take stock of implementation and assess collective progress. This process, known as the Global Stocktake, is designed to indicate to governments how far they still are and how much faster they still need to act. The other part of the Paris Agreement’s ambition mechanism also works in fiveyear cycles: starting from 2020, countries are encouraged to bring to the table more ambitions national climate plans, in line with the outcomes of the Global Stocktake. These plans, communicated in nationally determined contributions (NDCs), should reflect each country’s highest possible ambition. However, given the different timelines in the first set of NDCs, communicated in 2015, only some countries are required to update their NDCs in 2020. These include the UAE, but not most of the major emitters, which are only required to update their NDCs in 2025. The United States, the world’s leading historical emitter, is up for an enhancement in 2020, but is unlikely to present one given the current administration’s dislike of the 2015 commitment and the Paris Agreement overall. In the second area where the UN can seek to make a difference, through raising collective political will, yet another fiveyear cycle is emerging: in September 2014, then UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon organised the largest ever UN Climate Summit. The meeting

brought together 120 heads of state and government, along with 800 business leaders. It had the aim to mobilise political support for reaching an agreement in Paris the next year and to accelerate action around the world, at all levels. The 2014 Climate Summit was generally considered a success, delivering a number of new commitments and joint initiatives. It supported the UNFCCC through political declarations, which do not carry the same legal force as international treaties, but can be significantly important for global governance (think about the Sustainable Development Goals, for example). The meetings of the UNFCCC COP have at times attracted high-level political participation, but are generally attended by environment and foreign ministers who do not control the budget in a way that heads of government or finance ministers do. Similarly, the UNFCCC is an intergovernmental forum where only governments take decisions and craft international law. At the same time, it is increasingly recognised that businesses and other ‘non-state actors’, such as cities, regional governments or investors, can play a crucial role in climate action. The 2014 UN Climate Summit was preceded by a preparatory summit in the UAE, titled the Abu Dhabi Ascent. This meeting helped create momentum for the Summit by bringing together some of the same leaders to plan ahead their announcements. At the end of this June, the UAE will serve again as the host for the preparatory summit of the 2019 Climate Summit, convened by the UN Secretary-General António Guterres. Preparations have

already been ongoing, and work is organised along nine high-impact areas, each supported by a multi-stakeholder coalition of governments and non-state actors. The Abu Dhabi meeting will serve as a platform for crystallising this work into concrete outcomes for the September Climate Summit. Whether the 2019 Summit will create sufficient political will to bring about new, ambitious and numerous emission reduction pledges from countries in 2020 remains to be seen. We are far from safe when it comes to climate change, but the UN now has in place a robust system for ratcheting up ambition everywhere, at all levels. Hopefully, it will deliver the necessary trust and momentum for implementation fast enough to preserve our planet for future generations.

GREEN JOB

Business Development Officer Can you lead Dubai’s transition to renewable energy? Your responsibilities will be to generate leads, take on client meetings, help find sponsorships for the UAE’s leading sustainability publications, present brand new ideas, hit your targets, and be part of making our sales and sponsorships plan happen. Ideally, you’ll excel under pressure, be ambitious, creative, and be super focused.

If interested, please visit: www.dcce.ae/careers

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INTERVIEW

Building Nature

The Sustainabilist talks to John Pagano, CEO of Red Sea Development Company, on opportunites and challenges of combining luxury and sustainability.

he project is planned to open in 2022. What are the main priorities until the opening? What are the milestones that you are aiming to achieve by the end of 2019? The Red Sea Project is probably the most ambitious tourism development project in the world today. We are creating a luxury tourism destination on the Red Sea Coast of Saudi Arabia that will offer visitors a uniquely diverse range of experiences and at the same time will set new standards in sustainable development.

Our main priority is always on protecting, preserving and enhancing the natural environment within which we operate. Our development plans are informed by a comprehensive marine spatial planning simulation that has given us a very clear picture of how the development and operation of the destination will affect the local ecosystems. So in designing and developing the site, we have to be sure that we are creating a destination that matches the expectations of modern luxury travelers while at the same time minimising our environmental footprint. With the master plan approved, work

is already underway. By the end of this year we expect to have completed the essential enabling works to allow Phase One construction to commence. That includes laying temporary roads, building a residential complex to house the first 10,000 workers who will develop the destination, build the jetties that we need to ferry materials from the shore to islands and begin work on the dedicated airport that will serve the destination. What do you think will be the most challenging work you will have to do until 2022?

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What are some of the technological innovations you are going to implement as part of the project? Technology is a key enabler of the project, both from a sustainability perspective and from a visitor experience point of view. We have already undertaken the most comprehensive marine spatial planning simulation ever completed to inform our master plan. The data set was so complex that specialised software had to be developed here in Saudi Arabia to facilitate the analysis. The results have been very valuable and continue to inform our decisions as a business.

We are really breaking new ground at every stage of the development. By 2022 we expect to have 14 hotels completed across five islands and two inland sites, all powered by renewable energy and incorporating waste management facilities that match our commitment to sustainability. Given the remote nature of the site, the logistics undertaking is significant not only to get materials to the site but also to house the workforce. We will be relying to a great extent on modular construction methods, fabricating assets remotely and then shipping them to site. That will help to minimise the environmental impact of the work, but creates its own logistical and technical challenges. We have a very experienced team and are currently on track to meet our development deadlines.

We are developing a smart destination management system that will allow us to monitor a wide range of environmental markers including water temperature, salinity, clarity and tidal flows as well as aridity, wind and air quality on our inland sites. It will also underpin our visitor experiences, from biometrics to journey planning to concierge services. We are pursuing a number of very ambitious goals, including zero wasteto-landfill, zero discharge to-the-sea, 100 per cent renewable energy and a total ban on single use plastics. Each of these goals creates technological challenges. In some cases, such as energy storage, the technology exists and must be adapted to our unique environment. In others, such as brine management, the technology does not yet exist, and we are already identifying partners who may be able to work with us to resolve them. How did the partnership with KAUST begin?

KAUST is the leading academic institution for marine and environmental studies focused on the Red Sea, so they were a natural partner for us in understanding the destination and the unique ecosystems it contains. We have partnered with KAUST on dozens of environmental studies and most critically on the marine spatial planning simulation. Additionally, following the launch of the Red Sea Project, Beacon Development was established under the umbrella of KAUST, with a mandate to support the projects specifically from an environmental sustainability angle. Beacon Development were responsible for providing much of the early input in terms of baseline surveys to assess the biodiversity present at the site, followed by the data analysis which proved essential to the creation of our master plan. We continue to work with our environmental partners, including KAUST to enhance our understanding of the local ecosystems. KAUST is also represented on our Board of Advisors and works very closely in helping us achieve our objective to set a new standard in sustainable development. Is there scope for the work that is being done during the partnership to be transformed in a specialised degree for KAUST? Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a question for KAUST to answer but we would certainly support the creation of a specialised degree that helps to prepare young Saudis to better contribute to regional efforts to preserve and enhance the ecosystems 29

The Sustainabilist | CLIMATE CHANGE

When the project is open in 2022, what is the capacity for tourism? How many visitors will you be able to accommodate?

How many stakeholders are involved in the partnership, besides Red Sea Development and KAUST? How many members does the overall team have? What are their profiles? The Red Sea Project is a massive undertaking and closely aligned with the objectives of Vision 2030 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; not only from the perspective of developing the destination but also in creating jobs and the overall contribution to the growth and diversification of the Saudi economy. We expect that the Project will contribute some 22 billion riyals to the Saudi economy once complete. Naturally we are closely aligned with the leadership and government of Saudi Arabia in many different areas. The skillset to achieve our sustainability objectives does not exist in any one place, so we are sourcing the best 30

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We are pursuing a number of very ambitious goals, including zero waste-to-landfill, zero discharge tothe-sea, 100 per cent renewable energy and a total ban on single use plastics.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;

of the Red Sea, as well as any initiative that aimed to make that research more widely available so that other organisations might be able to benefit from the work we are doing.

talent we can in Saudi Arabia and internationally. Our team of real-estate developers, construction engineers, sustainability specialists, project managers, and master planners, worked with biologists, ecologists, oceanographers and modelers to deliver the partnership.

Phase One will offer 3,100 hotel rooms across five islands and two inland resorts. That will give us annual capacity of around 300,000 visitors. Once complete, the destination is planned to offer 48 hotels with 8,000 rooms across 22 islands and 6 inland sites, for an annual capacity of around one million visitors per year. We will be managing visitation very carefully to minimise over-tourism and the associated environmental costs while offering a uniquely memorable experience to everyone who comes to enjoy the destination. How open do you think tourists will be to this project? The project is closely aligned with current and developing trends in the luxury tourism market. Travelers are increasingly seeking standout experiences over conspicuous acquisition. Our year-round ability to offer an island getaway, a resort holiday, a mountain retreat and a desert experience all within comparatively close proximity will be very appealing. And the opportunity to experience a rich and very hospitable culture will also be a factor in encouraging people to visit. There is always appeal in the path less well trodden, so initial interest is likely to be based on curiosity. However, the extraordinary beauty of the environment and the diversity, both natural and built, of the destination is what will keep people coming back again and again.

Issue 16 | July 2019

CENTRE FOLD

Decarbonising Aviation The UAE General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) share their thoughts on the aviation industryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s journey towards climate friendliness.

egarding the small-scale pilot projects undertaken by flydubai and Air Arabia, what were the key learnings and findings from the pilot project? CORSIA have introduced several methods approved by the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation) to measure and calculate CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions. It also gave the operators the freedom to choose the method that was suitable to their operations. From the government perspective, it gave us an in-depth understanding on the implementation and the follow up

needed, as well to understand that the implementation methodology will vary from one operator to another as they have different operational systems and different calculation methods. Also, the infrastructure is not equal within UAE operators and therefore, it gave us the strength to develop good communication tools and knowledge exchange platforms to support each other in the future from different UAE registered airlines. The small-scale project helped our local operators who participated in the project in getting a better understanding about the CORSIA (Carbon Offsetting and

Reduction Scheme for International Aviation) requirements, as well as build up confidence in the operatorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; readiness to apply all CORSIA guidelines. Can you please share more details about the capacity building trainings provided by ICAO? Capacity building training provided by ICAO, was a great opportunity offered to improve knowledge and share ideas regarding market-based measures and on CORSIA implementation. It also offered an opportunity to engage with other CORSIA focal points from all over 31

The Sustainabilist | CLIMATE CHANGE

The capacity building training also, focused on the development of EMP (Emissions Monitoring Plans) and on the establishment of national regulatory frameworks. The objectives of the regional workshops, were to provide further information on the CORSIA implementation requirements as well as any pending issues regarding the monitoring of CO2 emissions in 2019 including the approval of Emissions Monitoring Plans procedures, which the state requires to submit by 30 April 2019. Also covered were, reporting and verification of CO2 emissions from international aviation, to support states in complying with the related provisions of the CORSIA SARPs by early 2020.

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UAE State Action Plan (SAP) has been recognised by the ICAO as one of the 46 comprehensive SAPs submitted.

engagement of stakeholders at all times. One of the recent achievements regarding CORSIA was the participation of two local operators in the small-scale project (flydubai and Air Arabia) from our region. Their experience and lessons learned were shared with other stakeholders.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;

the world and get exposed to different views.

What are the most important projects GCAA has decided to invest in, in order to reduce impact and align to international standards?

to reduce CO2 emissions. Acquiring the latest and the newest engine technology and replacing aircraft coating were some of the projects and initiatives introduced to the operators. UAE State Action Plan (SAP) has been recognised by the ICAO as one of the 46 comprehensive SAPs submitted.

Throughout the state action plan, many projects and initiatives have been introduced, to be adopted and executed by the operators in UAE, which aim

All our local operators and stakeholders have shown a high level of commitment and cooperation. GCAA have always assured continued participation and

On 31st January 2019, the GCAA organised a training session regarding CORSIA EMP, in coordination with flydubai, with the participation of all the CORSIA complying operators, where they shared their experience in implementing CORSIA by outlining the processes and systems needed to successfully adapt to the scheme, and highlighting the monitoring, reporting and verification requirements. The CORSIA training session was well attended, with 20 attendees from across the UAE aviation industry including representatives from Dubai Civil Aviation, RAK Department of Civil Aviation, Sharjah Department of Civil Aviation, Department of Transport, Sharjah Airport Authority, Emirates, Etihad, Air Arabia, Falcon Aviation, Gulf Wings and Royal Jet.

Issue 16 | July 2019

The Sustainabilist | CLIMATE CHANGE

INTERVIEW

Coral in Trouble The Sustainabilist talks to John Burt, Marine Biologist and Associate Professor of Biology at NYU Abu Dhabi on marine conservation and the impact of climate change on regional coral reefs.

hat first got you interested in marine biology?

As a youth, I spent 17 years growing up on the Atlantic coast of Canada, where my parents owned a sailboat. Each year we would hop on the boat on the first day of the summer holidays and venture out for the next two months to live at sea, travelling all around the Canadian Maritimes. With no televisions, computers or other distractions available, as kids my siblings and I developed a strong bond with the sea. It was a magical childhood. 34

What specific area does your research in the region concentrate on? Our research group studies how life responds to extreme environmental conditions, and we are particularly focused on using the Arabian Gulf as a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;natural laboratoryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, to develop a better understanding of how climate change may affect marine organisms around the world in the coming century. Each summer the Gulf becomes the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hottest sea, with sea temperatures topping 360C. To put that into context, a hot bath in your home would be around 380C. Given

that temperatures above 320C would normally be lethal to marine fauna in most of the world, yet we have corals, reef fishes and seagrasses surviving at temperatures, well beyond these conditions here in the Gulf, this raises interesting questions about the capacity for marine organisms to acclimate and adapt to extreme temperatures. As Gulf fauna currently live at temperatures not predicted to occur in most of the tropics for at least another century, it does serve as a useful proxy for future climate change conditions from which we can infer mechanisms for thermal tolerance.

Issue 16 | July 2019

The main threat to coral reefs from climate change comes from thermal stress. While ocean acidification can also play a role, most reef scientists would agree that rising temperatures are a more pressing threat to coral reefs. When temperatures rise too high, it can result in a breakdown of the important symbiotic relationship that occurs between corals and the symbiotic algae (called zooxanthellae) that live inside of their tissue. These algae perform photosynthesis and provide over 90% of the energy that corals use, and are thus incredibly important for coral survival. However, when waters heat up these algae start producing chemicals that functionally irritate the coral tissue, and so are ejected out of the corals. When this happens the rich brown, green and red colors that characterize corals (which are actually the algae inside the corals) will suddenly disappear and corals will turn white, hence the term commonly used term ‘coral bleaching’ that occurs during unusually hot summers.

What is the state of coral reefs in the Arabian Gulf?Are there any areas of immediate concern? While we do have the most thermally tolerant corals and reef fish in the world, they do live very close to their limits. As such, when we have extreme summers, this can result in quite dramatic impacts to these normally robust reef communities. As a case in point, the summer of 2017 was hotter than almost any year on record for the southern Gulf, and as a result we had significant loss of corals during that summer. We are currently tackling the recovery of these reefs.

What are some of your most important priorities for marine conservation? While coastal managers have little control over climate change and its influence on coral bleaching, what they do have control over is more local stressors that may add to or synergise with thermal stress. For example, it is well known that nutrient imbalances can interact with extreme temperatures to facilitate coral bleaching events. So what marine managers should be looking towards is policies and regulations that reduce these other stressors, particularly during periods of high thermal stress such as

“

As Gulf fauna currently live at temperatures not predicted to occur in most of the tropics for at least another century, it does serve as a useful proxy for future climate change conditions from which we can infer mechanisms for thermal tolerance.

“

How does Climate Change impact coral reefs and what would their loss mean for humankind?

the summer. For example, most nutrient discharge results from treated sewage treatment outfalls; by using tertiary chemical treatment of wastewater, marine managers could reduce nutrient loading and therefore reduce the risk of this nutrient stress interacting with heat to cause bleaching. Likewise, sedimentation is a known stressor for corals. As such, limiting coastal dredging and reclamation activities during the hottest months would also reduce the potential for cumulative stressors to impact coral reefs at local scales. 35

The Sustainabilist | CLIMATE CHANGE

FEATURE

Why Sustainability Makes Business Sense For Philip Morris International, sustainability and business transformation are two imperatives that go hand in hand. By Huub Savelkouls Chief Sustainability Officer, Philip Morris International

or a company like Philip Morris International to have a conversation about sustainability may seem almost inappropriate to some people. How can a tobacco company—which sells products that are harmful to the health of its consumers—talk in a credible way about sustainability? It’s a fair question. Sustainability needs to start with taking a hard look at the impact a company’s products have on consumers and society, and it’s no secret that cigarettes are harmful. The answer is obvious: If PMI wants to have the greatest positive impact, we have to evolve our business model. So that’s what we have been doing since 2016, transforming our business from cigarettes to smoke-free alternatives.

Deciding to phase out the product that PMI was built on—while delivering on expectations of our employees, shareholders and the 150 million consumers of our brands—is a drastic move. Addressing the health effects of our product is a pivotal contribution to sustainability. While our sustainability efforts contribute to several United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, we have identified SDG Goal No 3, which is to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being, as the goal for which PMI can have the greatest positive influence as we transform our business toward a smoke-free future. “Unsmoking” the world The best way to avoid the harm of smoking, obviously, is for smokers to quit and for others to never pick up their first cigarette. But with 1.1 billion

people around the globe who do smoke, it was key for PMI to come up with better alternatives than continuing to smoke. While nicotine is addictive and not without risk, experts agree that the primary cause of smoking-related diseases is the smoke generated by burning tobacco. Through more than a decade of extensive research—by over 400 scientists, engineers and technicians at our two research facilities—we have been developing smoke-free products that are less harmful than cigarettes. Our goal is to switch every smoker who would otherwise keep using cigarettes to smoke-free products, and we continue to shift company resources toward achieving that ambition. Last year, smoke-free products made up roughly 5 per cent of our shipments, but generated nearly 14 per cent of our revenue. Moreover, already

Issue 16 | July 2019

60 per cent of our global commercial expenditure and 92 per cent of our investment in research and development were dedicated to smoke-free products. And we’re on our way toward meeting our goal: Since the debut of our main smokefree product, IQOS, in 2014, more than 7.3 million people have stopped smoking our cigarettes and switched to PMI’s heated tobacco products. It is our ambition that by 2025, at least 40 million PMI cigarette smokers will have switched to smoke-free products. Achieving this would accelerate the decline of smoking among our consumers more than 3 times faster compared to targets set by WHO. Taking action PMI is the only tobacco company whose efforts are focused on replacing cigarettes with better alternatives as fast as possible, but our sustainability ambition reaches far beyond changing our product. It extends to the way we operate and address our social and environmental sustainability challenges. And as we are making progress on our transformation journey, we are applying our sustainability

approach to areas that are new to our business, such as electronics. This includes for instance improving labor practices in our electronics supply chain, and developing circular economy schemes to recycle our smoke-free devices. As smoke-free products require less tobacco, we are also helping farmers diversify their crops and reduce their dependence on revenues from tobacco growing. Managing PMI’s social impact within our operations and beyond is a key pillar of our sustainability strategy. We took our Agricultural Labor Practices program, already considered industry-leading, to the next level in 2018 with a stepchange approach, with the ambition to have zero child labor within our tobacco supply chain by 2025. We reinforced our human rights due diligence work and increased the worldwide representation of women in management roles. We are also committed to reducing our environmental footprint throughout our value chain. We are improving water stewardship and greening the energy consumption in our operations and are

focusing on most relevant areas of our environmental footprint outside of our factories. This includes addressing greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation and biodiversity in tobacco growing and curing, as well as tackling consumer waste and littering. We support the Paris Climate Agreement and have set ambitious science-based targets to reduce our carbon emissions. For the fifth year in a row, PMI achieved CDP’s Climate A-list for its comprehensive action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate climate change and for transparency in its reporting practices. Our efforts and the progress we are making toward the transformation, environment and social targets we have set are outlined in our newly released 2018 Sustainability Report, the fourth such document PMI has produced. Our ambition is to become a sustainability leader, within the tobacco industry and beyond, and the core of our sustainability strategy is to unsmoke the world—as soon as possible and as sustainably as possible. 37

The Sustainabilist | CLIMATE CHANGE

SCHOOL

A Sustainable Future Led by Females Seventy per cent of UAE parents believe creative thinking and languages are the most important skills to future-proof childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s careers.

ounded in 2005, Al-Mizhar American Academy (AAM), a Taaleem school, was developed to provide a nurturing and rigorous American education for girls aged 3 to 18 years. Our Kindergarten is co-educational for Pre-KG to KG 2. Embedded in the Common Core curriculum are opportunities for students to develop socially, emotionally and academically. In an all-girlsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; environment, our students focus on developing their individual voice, perspectives and opinions. Being committed to the UAE 2021 vision, our girls are constantly exploring new opportunities to lead projects for a more sustainable environment. Our high school girls have shared videos with all grades to spread awareness on plastic pollution and ways to protect the water environment. We have started our own Green Team who took the lead in placing recycle bins all over the school and spread awareness on

paper consumption. In line with Taaleem initiative to go green, staff members have limited quota for their printer usage every month and will need to provide a valid reason to extend their quota further. Furthermore, AAM uses technology to deliver studying materials, homeworks and announcements to its community through an application called Schoology. All parents are being trained and supported to use the application in the schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s attempt to become as Green as possible. One of the most recent and interesting initiatives is our innovation challenge led by Grade 11 girls. Their mission is to look into environmental chemistry and come up with solutions to current environmental problems. They have been doing a lot of research, critical thinking, team work, and application of scientific methods, and technology in this area and will be exhibiting the outcomes of their efforts.

Some highlights of their research and hard work outcomes is: A solar robot to clean up the ocean A purifying drone for a cleaner breathing environment A sustainable city to generate electricity from bio mass Hydroponics to help in conserving water usage in farms Aeroponics to grow plants in air rather than soil to conserve natural resources Green wall houses to work as an insolation system to keep the concrete cool and result in a minimal usage of AC units Sea bin to recycle the waste in the water A sustainability application and website to spread awareness among the community and beyond

Issue 16 | July 2019

TOP TIPS

Reduce Your Carbon Footprint

Rooftop solar Small-scale solar systems, typically sited on rooftops, accounted for roughly 30 per cent of PV capacity installed worldwide in 2015. Rooftop solar PV can grow from 0.4 per cent of electricity generation globally to 7 per cent by 2050. That growth can avoid 24.6 gigatons of emissions

Green Roof The average rooftop is brutal terrain, taking a beating from sun, wind, rain, and snow, and enduring temperatures up to 90 degrees higher than the surrounding air on a hot day. If green roofs cover 30 per cent of roof space by 2050 and cool roofs cover 60 per cent, a total of 407 billion square feet of efficient roofing would be in place globally. Combined, these technologies could reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 0.8 gigatons.

Building Automation Adopting automated rather than manual building management systems can reduce energy consumption by 10 to 20 per cent. Expanding these systems from 34 per cent of commercial floor space in 2014 to 50 per cent by mid-century could result in 4.6 gigatons of carbon dioxide emissions to be avoided.

Educating Girls Education lays a foundation for vibrant lives for girls and women, their families, and their communities. By closing an annual financing gap of US$39 billion, universal education in low- and lower-middleincome countries can be achieved. It could result in 51.48 gigatons of emissions reduced by 2050. Reduced Food Waste A third of the food raised or prepared does not make it from farm or factory to fork. The food we waste is responsible for roughly 8 per cent of global emissions. If 50 per cent of food waste is reduced by 2050, avoided emissions could be equal to 26.2 gigatons of carbon dioxide. Reducing waste also avoids the deforestation for additional farmland, preventing 44.4 gigatons of additional emissions.

The Sustainabilist | CLIMATE CHANGE

Your Carbon Foodprint

TOP 10

Kilograms of greenhouse gas emissions per serving

1 2

5kg

10kg

Beef

Lamb

Farmed Prawns

Chocolate

Farmed Fish

Chicken

Cheese

Dairy Milk

Eggs

Coffee

We assess the impact of one serving (1 kg) of food products related to its origins, in terms of the greenhouse gases emitted. The same food can have huge differences and range of environmental impact depending on where it was sourced from. For e.g. chocolate or coffee originating from deforested rainforest will produce relatively higher greenhouse gases.

LEGEND:

Low Impact average-impact High-Impact 40

15kg

Issue 16 | July 2019

CASE STUDY

Dubai 950MW CSP - PV Project By Gurmeet Kaur Partner, Pinsent Masons

he Dubai government has taken great strides in developing renewable energy projects to help combat climate change and reduce carbon emissions. In 2015, it launched the Clean Energy Strategy, which aims to make Dubai a global centre of clean energy and has set an ambitious target of achieving 75% of it energy mix from clean energy by 2050. As part of the initiative the government has launched a number of large scale solar projects. The most recent was the fourth phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Solar Park. This is a US$4 billion 950MW combined Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) and Photovoltaic (PV) project. This is the world’s largest standalone CSP plant and first CSP project in the region using a combination of technologies including the world’s largest solar tower (260m). It is the first renewable energy project in the GCC to include an energy storage component (allowing electricity

to be dispatched during the night) and achieved the world’s lowest levelised cost of electricity for a solar thermal project (7.3 cents/kWh) which will be provided over a period of 25 years. The project will support Dubai’s ambition to increase the share of clean energy. The project is both unique and complicated as it combines two different CSP technologies (central tower technology and parabolic trough technology) together with PV. Pinsent Masons worked with the successful EPC contractor to negotiate the EPC contracts and amendments to the documents to enable a hybrid approach. We are currently providing ongoing advice through an innovative framework contract, allowing support globally. The impact on the industry will be significant once the project is completed as it will be the first solar thermal plant in the GCC, combining three technologies, demonstrating efficacy of molten salt storage technology in this region while achieving the lowest global levelised costs of electricity. We anticipate that in the future in the GCC and MENA region, there will be more hybrid projects such as PV-CSP or PV-storage developed in order to provide a real alternative to fossil fuel. These projects allow operators to benefit from the lower cost of energy for longer dispatch periods. This promotes a sustainable future, significantly reducing carbon emissions in this region. The Dubai CSP-PV project is significant, as it shows strong message of the commitment of government in this region to find solutions to reduce carbon emissions, increase innovation in the energy industry and build a sustainable future. 41

The Sustainabilist | CLIMATE CHANGE

FEATURE

Dubai Saves 267MW in Electricity Consumption During Earth Hour 2019

By Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA)

ubai achieved significant results in reducing electricity use during Earth Hour 2019. Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) recorded savings of 267 megawatts (MW) in electricity consumption in the Emirate, equivalent to a reduction of 114 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. These results underline the importance of efforts by society, as well as the public and private sector organisations, to protect the environment and reducing the carbon footprint. People in Dubai joined millions of people around the world in expressing their solidarity with efforts to address the threats posed by global warming and climate change,

by turning off unnecessary lights and electrical devices during Earth Hour, which the world observed from 8:30-9:30 pm on Saturday, 30 March 2019, with the theme ‘Connect to Earth.’ Dubai’s landmarks, tourist and government buildings also took part in the event by turning off their lights for an hour. Festive atmosphere at Marasi Promenade DEWA organised distinguished activities to celebrate Earth Hour under the umbrella of the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy; and in partnership with the Emirates Wildlife Society (EWS) in association with the World

Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), and with the support of Dubai Holding. The activities at Marasi Promenade Business Bay were organised from 4 to 10pm. 15 government departments and 20 private companies took part in the activities. There were Emirati, Saudi and Chinese traditional bands; highlighting the cultural diversity of the UAE, especially in the Year of Tolerance, with its logo formed with candles at the event. Participants enjoyed various family and entertainment activities that aimed to raise environmental awareness. DEWA’s stand included a photography corner, an interactive games corner, and a corner for Noor and Hayat, the conservation mascots. Many

Issue 16 | July 2019

government organisations had stands that displayed their key environmental initiatives. For the 4th consecutive year, DEWA offset the carbon emissions resulting from Earth Hour 2019 activities, with Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) credits from its projects. This will be based on the Kyoto Protocol of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Earth Hour Walk The Earth Hour Walk, the most prominent activity in the event, started at 8:30pm. HE Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment; HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD and CEO of DEWA; HE Ahmed Abdul Karim Julfar, Director General of Dubai Community Development Authority (CDA); HE Khalifa Al Darrai, Executive Director of the Dubai Corporation for Ambulance Services; HE Dherar Belhoul Al Falasi, Director General of the Watani Al Emarat Foundation; HE Saeed Hareb, Secretary General of Dubai Sports Council; HE Saif Al Falasi, GCEO of Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC); Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, Chief Executive Officer of Dubal Holding; Dr Essa Bastaki, President of the University of Dubai; Habiba Al Marashi, Chairperson of the Emirates Environmental Group; Khalid Al Malik, Managing Director of Dubai Holding; and a large number of officials from the public and private sectors took part in the walk.

to express their solidarity with global efforts to protect Planet Earth. At the end of the activities, Al Tayer honoured the government departments and private organisations that took part in the event. “Under the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Executive Council, DEWA has been organising Earth Hour annually since 2008. Dubai was the first Arab city to organise Earth Hour activities to highlight sustainable practices that lead to positive change in climate action. The significant results achieved by Dubai this year, emphasise the important role society members can play in rationalising energy consumption and reducing the carbon footprint to protect the environment and natural

resources, as well as contribute to sustainable development. The purpose of Earth Hour is to urge everyone to adopt a conscious and responsible lifestyle, in electricity and water consumption and to make the sensible use of resources and environmental protection a daily practice to combat climate change, and support national efforts in reducing carbon emissions, conserving natural resources, and ensuring their sustainability for generations to come” said HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of DEWA. “I would like to thank all customers across all sectors who took part in Earth Hour by switching off unnecessary lights and electric appliances. I also thank all government and private sector organisations that joined us in supporting national efforts to reduce carbon emissions and find sustainable solutions to global warming and climate change,” added Al Tayer.

HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer thanked the officials, who took part in the Earth Hour Walk, along with thousands of people of all ages and nationalities who carried candles and eco-friendly lanterns 43

The Sustainabilist | CLIMATE CHANGE

FEATURE

Want to Beat Climate Change Today? Modernise Power Plants, Digitalise Buildings, by Law By Dietmar Siersdorfer CEO, Siemens Middle East

hile climate change is right at our doorstep, threatening to wreak havoc, radical global action that could make a difference is still missing. Population growth and carbon emissions remain unabated. Cities are expanding at an alarming rate, adding 50 44

million people per year. By 2050, almost 70 per cent of the world population is expected to live in cities, up from 55 per cent at present.

the huge amount of energy buildings and city infrastructure consume, and their carbon footprint, I believe we need to start there. And Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m going to focus on energy.

What is the answer then? It seems like an insurmountable challenge. But with available technology, you can make decisions today that will positively impact your future and that of generations to come. Knowing what we know about cities today, their impact on the environment,

Buildings consume more energy than industry or mobility. We eat, sleep, work, shop, and spend most of our leisure time in buildings. Whether theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re skyscrapers or single-unit homes, buildings collectively have an undeniable impact on the environment around us. Consider

Issue 16 | July 2019

Energy you don’t use is energy you don’t have to generate. If less energy is required in buildings, power plants don’t need to produce as much. This will also bring down emissions produced at power plants, as well as the amount of natural resources burned for electricity generation. So how do we go about realising this? Legislation is key. We cannot afford to wait for individuals to do the right thing. Pockets of change are insufficient to address such an enormous challenge. Countries, cities, can act boldly and implement legislation that encourages the conversion of existing buildings into energy-saving structures and make sure upcoming ones are built with smart technologies in the first place. There is also a monetary business case for this. We’ve proved that building technology can pay back in two years and help owners achieve savings after that. They also create better environments for people living or working in them. Happier and more productive people build stronger economies, after all. Most of the buildings we have in the biggest cities globally are the same ones we will inhabit 25 years from now. There’s a strong case for retrofitting them with technology that can achieve energy savings, such as sensors and building management systems. We’ve implemented this with many of our customers globally and have seen impressive results in the world’s top sustainable buildings. It is possible and within reach, if we can create awareness and understanding that smart

buildings must become a central pillar of national energy strategies. But it’s not only about buildings. We can apply the same concept to power plants. While the share of renewables is

“

Cities are expanding at an alarming rate, adding 50 million people per year. By 2050, almost 70 per cent of the world population is expected to live in cities, up from 55 per cent at present.

“

this: buildings consume more than 40 per cent of all energy generated globally. Now, imagine using smart, energy efficient building technologies that can reduce energy consumption by 30 to 40 per cent.

increasing globally, fossil fuels are still expected to make up a large percentage of the energy mix while we transition to cleaner energy. Therefore, making power plants that run on fossil fuels more

efficient is also key. By modernising power plants and replacing old turbines with new, highly-energy efficient ones, we can make a big difference to fossil fuel consumption and the production of emissions. We now have gas turbine technology that can generate electricity at efficiency levels of more than 63 per cent. Yet, in many countries around the world, we still have ageing power plants operating at efficiencies of 40 per cent or lower. Energy efficiency refers to using less fuel to achieve more power. At a gas power plant with 63 per cent efficiency, 63 per cent of the gas used in power production creates electricity, while the rest is converted to heat. This can paint a clear picture of the savings we can achieve on various fronts. As with buildings, there’s a clear business case for energy efficiency. We can get more from the finite resources we have such as oil and gas, while reducing emissions and fuel costs endured by governments. Egypt is a great example, where the government now saves US$1.3 billion in fuel costs annually, thanks to energy-efficient power plants. As with buildings, reductions in emissions from power plants is also attainable today. To achieve significant results, we need to implement this on a large scale, and bring in legislation to do away with lowefficiency and polluting power plants. Making this world inhabitable and sustainable for the 9.8 billion people we expect to populate it by 2050 is a big feat, but one we can accomplish together. By bringing together know-how from the private sector and public legislation to implement new technologies, the journey to combatting climate change has already started. Will you join us? 45

The Sustainabilist | CLIMATE CHANGE

FEATURE

Creating a Sustainable MICE Sector: Hospitality Industry Should Lead the Way By William Costley VP Operations Arabian Peninsula and Turkey at Hilton

or most, working in the hospitality or tourism sector means attending or hosting a myriad of conferences, events or tradeshows in any given year. These events present valuable opportunities for networking, professional development and sharing best practices amongst industry leaders. Indeed, the meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) sector also plays an integral role in the UAE’s economy, generating a total of US$653 million per year since the year 2000. However, beyond delivering economic benefits, it is also important to consider the impact that these gatherings are having on our environment. While each of us gains individual rewards from attending or organising these events, we must also bear 46

in mind the collective carbon footprint we leave behind. With the MICE sector expected to continue to grow substantially in the lead up to Expo 2020, it is incumbent on all of us in the hospitality industry in particular to operate more efficiently and minimise our impact on the environment. Consider this: according to the FAO, about one-third of food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted globally, which amounts to about 1.3 billion tonnes per year. Not only does this have serious implications in tackling the world’s hunger challenges, it also means an increase in greenhouse gas emissions. As a leading hospitality group, Hilton has made environmental sustainability a priority through ‘Travel with Purpose’, our corporate responsibility strategy to redefine and advance sustainable travel globally. We are on a journey to cut our environmental footprint in half and double our social impact investment, which includes sourcing food locally and minimising the overall waste at our conferences. Sustainable conferences are no longer a thing of the future and, if implemented correctly, can have a significantly positive impact on the communities and the environment where they are hosted. I was proud to be part of the team that hosted the 2018 EMEA GM and Commercial Conference, an event that we believe has been the most sustainable in Hilton’s history yet. Here are a few tips that you can replicate to ensure you reduce your carbon footprint at your next conference or event:

Reduce Plastics & Food Waste Simply ban plastic straws and plastic bottles from all meeting rooms – use glass instead! This could save millions of straws from entering the world’s oceans each year. Set yourself a deadline and work at achieving this goal by then. Hilton is on its way to eliminating the use of plastic straws and water bottles from its hotels in the region by the end of this year. When it comes to reducing food waste, by changing the menu to incorporate more fish and plant-based foods, you can help substantially reduce food-related greenhouse gas emissions. However, be mindful that environmental studies suggest our oceans are now 90% overfished, so it is important to source responsible seafood. Supporting the growth of local businesses not only promotes community well-being but also creates more jobs and puts back more revenue into the local economy, enriching the community as a whole. By locally sourcing your produce and using organic or sustainably-certified ingredients, you can make a meaningful contribution to the communities you operate in. In addition, a large amount of leftover food tends to be produced at conferences. It would be wise to move from buffet-style concepts to a la carte and set menu options to reduce any food surpluses. Cutting Carbon Emissions Encourage attendees to come to the conference by bus, tram or metro, or offer shuttle options if this is feasible. During our conference, we were able to

rd | July 2019 October 2017 Issue 01Issue | 2316

EMEA 2018 GM AND COMMERCIAL CONFERENCE

offset all carbon emissions including all attendees’ flights, accommodation and meeting impact. As part of our carbon offsetting efforts, we are supporting two EMEA-based projects. In Kenya, we are providing communities with better cooking equipment, cutting down on air pollution from polluting fuels. Similarly, in Turkey, we are supporting a geothermal energy site, helping to add green energy to the grid. Instead of providing a gift in our guests rooms, which are often thrown away, we used the money to donate to these causes leaving the guests with a feel good factor as they left the conference.

MEET WITH PURPOSE IMPACT REPORT

MINDFUL 1

Expo stands sent for recycling

Another unique concept that can be an effective for a sustainable conference is recyclable exhibition stands. It is surprising how much material it takes to create just one stand at a trade show, which is often only used once and then discarded. We had as many as 80 exhibition stands made for our event out of recyclable MDF wood, so stands which we can’t keep and re-use were all broken down and recycled, extending the lifecycle of these products and materials.

100

1,671

plants bought from social enterprise Enable

tons of carbon emissions offset by supporting climate friendly projects in Turkey and Kenya

MINDFUL 2

Recycle and Reuse The overnight guests who attend your conference will only use their bars of soap a few times, leaving the rest when they leave. We recommend recycle your soap – you’ll be able to collect thousands of kilos of soap that can essentially be repurposed and given to countries in need, which is something that Hilton does worldwide. To date, EMEA has recycled over 566.60 tonnes of soap, enough to support over 100,000 of our most vulnerable community members every month.

Meeting

2,000

notepads and pens avoided by having a paperless conference

Eating

50%

locally sourced ingredients

Included fresh produce from local hydroponic farm Green Ponics, and UAE’s largest local grower Mahalli

MINDFUL 3

Being

THRIVE@

HILTON

100%

packaging plastic free or biodegradable

1,100

lanyards made from bamboo and Forest Stewardship Council certified paper. All lanyards will be collected and recycled

60%

organic/sustainably certified ingredients Healthy, natural and low-carbon juices with no preservatives and concentrates

THRIVE SHOWCASE

Reusable / sustainable amenities

Featured mindfulness tips. Highlighted youth opportunity, volunteering, recognition, innovation and new Under Armour uniforms.

fitness classes

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT MEET WITH PURPOSE, CLICK HERE

Measuring Progress

It is so important to set measurable and ambitious goals to benchmark your environmental impact. Creating a system to clearly understand the effect your organisation or conference is having on the environment is vital in order to make meaningful changes. After every conference, you can generate an Impact Report, which measures how sustainable the event was. For example, after our most recent conference, we were able to monitor the impact of hosting a paperless conference, setting the bar high for future events. By setting these targets, it allows you to continue to improve your sustainability efforts and it

forces you to be conscious and aware of your organisation’s environmental impact. The Road to 2021 Being as large as it is, the MICE sector should promote sustainable travel and as hotels, we should be that voice – we must strive to increase our social impact, reduce our environmental footprint and preserve our planet. By reducing our collective impact on natural resources and bringing it in line with the UAE’s Vision 2021, we can improve the quality of air, preserve our water resources, increase the contribution of clean energy and have a positive impact on the communities we operate in. 47

The Sustainabilist | CLIMATE CHANGE

INTERVIEW

Show me your Menu

Luca Gagliardi, General Manager of Pierchic, tells The Sustainabilist what running restaurant businesses in Dubai, in a more sustainable way, truly entail.

ell us more about your personal background. Where did you come from and how did you end up where you are?

From an early age growing up in southern Italy, I developed a love for quality organic ingredients, with both my parents encouraging my culinary exploration; my father shared with me his passion for good grape, and my mother for food. Following my studies as a sommelier, I took the opportunity to travel around the work and explore further various grape growing regions, which further fed my passion for grape and world cuisine. I moved to Dubai in 2002 and was given the opportunity to run Gordon Ramsay’s Verre at the Hilton Dubai Creek, which provided me with valued experience in Dubai’s ever evolving F&B sector. Dubai’s geographical position 48

lends itself to relatively undiscovered grape regions, and I used the opportunity to learn more about various varieties from Europe, Georgia and beyond. During my time in Dubai, my passion for quality and organic ingredients developed, and when the opportunity to join Pierchic presented itself, it was a perfect match. The restaurant’s positioning reflects my own devotion to sustainable ingredients and refined dishes. For the past two years, I have been steering the restaurant’s ethos and working with our chefs to source the most sustainable suppliers and ingredients to ensure we provide the very best service to our guests. Do you see regional patterns in the sustainable-food movement? The region’s F&B sector continues to

evolve, and it is humbling to see how many operators are adopting ethical and sustainable sourcing practices. Although there is more that can be done, I am proud of our achievements at Pierchic. The restaurant is an industry leader in the field of sustainability having won the ‘Sustainable Restaurant of the Year’ at the Catering News Middle East 2018 Leaders in F&B Awards.What is more rewarding is the growing consumer demand on provenance. We are seeing a continual growth in diners asking questions about food ingredients and the suppliers themselves. All of the Pierchic team share this passion and enjoy explaining the story behind each dish on our menu. Was there a moment that made you think, we need to make the food industry more sustainable?

Issue 16 | July 2019

Almost a decade ago I was sampling orange grape from Gravner, an Italian producer, it was eye opening to experience the difference from those mass produced on the market. Since then, I have visited a number of natural makers, learning how they grow grapes without chemical fertilisers and pesticides. These growers present a sustainable solution that other food producers can learn from and replicate within their own sector. It is vital that as an industry we learn from those leading the way to ensure that we are providing our children and future generations a sustainable and quality food supply. Here at Pierchic, we believe that every product has a story, but none as important as the fact that it is sustainably-sourced. As a seafood restaurant, the increasing amount of plastic in our oceans is an issue of utmost importance to Pierchic and in 2017, we took a market-leading stance banning superfluous, single-use plastic by removing all straws, swizzle sticks, stirrers, plastic tasting spoons, take away boxes and sugar wraps from our operations. Additionally, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve elected to only serve mineral water in glass bottles with future plans to include house filtration. We further extended this philosophy to our kitchen and the team only works with responsible fishermen who specialise in catching wild line-caught fish and seafood; the meat is free range; fruits and vegetables are from organic producers with a focus on seasonality and maturity; and somewhat unusually, even our wine list comprises entirely of sustainably produced organic grape. Today we can say that over 80 per cent

of the produce we use in our menu is sustainable and we continue to search for new products that come from sustainable sources. These initiatives help keep Pierchic at the forefront of the F&B industry as drivers of sustainable change and leaders in quality dining. Do you think the agricultural sector is taking climate change seriously enough? If not, where should more focus and resources be placed, which could make a measurable difference? Smaller and local suppliers are certainly more in touch with climate change and sustainability. However, more change is needed from larger entities and governing bodies all over the world who can make significant influence for future generations. Attention needs to be placed on eradicating chemicals used in farming. In addition, further support is needed to encourage more ethical practices in agriculture as to stimulate the much-needed change towards organic. Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the process for moving towards being a more sustainable restaurant? Do you think restaurants are able to be completely sustainable from the get go? In your opinion, what are the different steps that restaurants can take to be more sustainable? To move towards becoming a more sustainable restaurant, you must gain the complete buy in from all staff. Management can always implement such practices, but without the line staff fully understanding and sharing the same ethos, the success will be limited. A key foundation to any strategy is to start cutting your carbon footprint by maximising local suppliers. Pierchic, and the wider JRG Dubai, has worked

tirelessly with local suppliers to ensure the steady flow of quality ingredients for our restaurants. In addition, wastage and single-use plastic are two issues that present challenges across the industry. Kitchen teams need to pay closer attention to wastage by aligning with demand, being more creative with left over ingredients, or repurposing it for staff meals. Eradicating single-use plastic has been a key goal of mine. Two years ago we took the stance to remove such items from operations. Pierchic is now free from all plastic straws, swizzle sticks, stirrers, plastic tasting spoons, take away boxes and sugar wraps. We have also replaced plastic water bottles with glass bottles. There are numerous examples of restaurants who are already 100 per cent sustainable, which source products completely locally, fully re-use their waste through a waste management system, use alternative energies and in some cases grow their own vegetables or make their own cheeses. It can be done and they all have great ROI which means they are very profitable. In large scale, there are challenges, however as more and more restaurants place such demands on the market, it will become a smoother process. What advice would you give to someone who wants to eat out in a sustainable way? Always ask a restaurant about the dishes they serve and where they source their ingredients from. The farm-to-table concept is growing and should be further encouraged by consumers. Always try local dishes wherever you dine and gain the understanding of how they were sourced. Through this demand, you are supporting local producers, creating the best sustainable supply chain. 49

The Sustainabilist | CLIMATE CHANGE

INTERVIEW

Inspiring Innovation Hans Sandee, Consul General for the Netherlands in Dubai & Commissioner General for Expo 2020 Dubai on their unique pavilion.

hat was the source of inspiration for the Expo 2020 pavilion?

The source of inspiration are the challenges that we all face; issues that we see back in the Netherlands, issues we see here in the Gulf (and everywhere else) the increasing demand for energy and food caused by an increasing world population and their demand for sufficient, safe and clean water. Almost every single country in the world is facing one or multiple issues with this. The inspiration for the Expo 2020 is that we all share challenges and how, in mutual understanding and approaching of the issues, we can face these issues and to find solutions for them – and by doing so – to create a better world. The Netherlands is well known for their integrated approach towards Water Energy and Food, using the best available techniques, innovation and knowledge from the public and private sector as well as knowledge institutes. In Dubai, we want 50

to use this as our main theme. Also, what we have seen here in the UAE in general, and at Expo 2020 specifically, is that there is a genuine ambition to think about what kind of planet will be left for future generations, we want to participate in this debate and to add to this, by bringing the best possible solutions for the future. Next to this, there are so many countries at the Expo who showcase their innovations. Being Dutch, we want our pavilion to stand out – not only the façade but also the interior and the content we show. What messages would you like to send through your choice of design and material? We want to send the message that it is possible to share an incredible experience in a world expo without creating a building but to create a pavilion that is the experience and by doing so, to try and be as sustainable as possible. Contrary to many other countries or pavilions, we do not manufacture or construct the pavilion in our home country. We want to construct on site and we do not buy, we rent locally, we use steel dam walls that we source locally, we use sand, we harvest air and water and turn them into airconditioning and food which we use in the restaurant; what’s not to love about this very pragmatic approach that will not leave a footprint behind?

It also embodies our push for a more circular economy. What technologies/innovations are you incorporating in your pavilion? We have incorporated many technologies and innovations in the pavilion: from harvesting water out of air and photo selective solar panels to growing biological building material. But more important is the integration between them. We have for instance incorporated the traditional baarjiil windtower and have this harvest warm air, which will condensate and fall down inside the pavilion as rain. Eventually, this will be the source for growing cress and mushrooms in our pavilion. So the way the pavilion is being structured integrates innovation; the fact that every single aspect is used and reused makes our pavilion unique. What will visitors be able to experience at your pavilion?

Issue 16 | July 2019

We will leave some things to discover for the visitors of course, but I can reveal some details here. Our visitors will be taken into a storyline that will start before they actually reach the interior of the pavilion. They will go through a maze that will lead to a 23 meter high ‘food cone’ featuring a wall of produce that will be harvested every day. From here they come into a space where a story is told showcasing the elements, culture and other very interesting elements that I am not allowed yet to tell more about. I think that you all should come and see and experience yourself. How did you decide on the integrated water-energy and food approach? The Netherlands is situated 6 meters below sea level, so you can imagine that we know a thing or 2 about water and how to use it to our advantage. And you might not know that although we are a relatively small country, we are the second largest agricultural exporter in the world, immediately after the United States that is 270 times bigger than we are. The Netherlands are well-know for their knowledge, expertise and innovations

in water, energy and agriculture. At the cutting edge of these elements we see many innovative technological development and clinical scientific research. You cannot see one element without the other, they are all connected. Question is, is it possible to find solutions for global problems like water and food scarcity and an increasing demand for energy? Can we use our knowledge and expertise to add to set sustainable development goals? In the Netherlands we think we can. Over the years, the Dutch have formulated an integrated approach combining water energy and food – resource smart solutions, innovative technologies and data driven innovation that we have developed with cross border collaborations between governments, businesses and knowledge institutes like the Wageningen University, for example. This university is one of those institutes that is taking center stage in developing new farming techniques. Dutch farming techniques have been replicated and implemented in more than 140 countries. We have developed a multi-year campaign that touches upon the above mentioned problems and the solutions that can be used and implemented to ease these problems or to even solve this. By choosing the theme of the pavilion; Uniting Water, Energy, Food, we wanted to stay as close as we could to the overall chosen expo theme: connecting minds, creating the future. As we are situated in the sustainability pavilion, we chose the theme: Uniting Water, Energy, Food. We wanted a theme that we could transform into an experience instead of a building, we wanted to showcase

what worldly- and close to home challenges towards water energy and food can turn into opportunities. What initiatives implemented by the Netherlands in combating climate change will be displayed or represented by your pavilion? The pavilion is a showcase of Dutch innovative solutions, in which we don’t compete against nature but where we use the power of nature. Renewable energies, zero footprint through a circular approach and producing resources rather than taking recourses brings us in balance with our planet. What is the role that design plays in sustainability? I would like to say that Dutch and design go hand in hand. In our Expo pavilion, the design is the innovator. One could say that the pavilion blends Dutch ingenuity with pragmatism and optimism and the aesthetics are driven by technology and human ingenuity to provide answers to actual demands. What do you consider extraordinary about Expo 2020 Dubai? What makes it stand apart from other Expos? What we really like about this Expo, in comparison to the many others we also took part in, is the fact that this Expo is going back to its origins; finding solutions for global challenges, to showcase innovations and to drive ideas, innovations and hope for a better future for us all. The fact that this Expo is the first in the Middle East is important as it will put all eyes on this world event and the region. We do believe that the outcomes of this Expo can and indeed will make a difference. 51

The Sustainabilist | CLIMATE CHANGE

RESEARCH

ANNUAL CO2 EMISSIONS PER COUNTRY (millions of tons of CO2 , 2017)

canada

U.S.

total emissions:

680

5,630

per capita:

18.6

17.4

0-250 millions tons 250.1 - 500 500.1 - 2,500 2,500.1 - 5,000 5,000.1 - 12,000

All tons are U.S. short tons

total emissions: per capita:

Issue 16 | July 2019

10 largest - emitting countries GERMANY

IRAN

INDIA

RUSSIA

JAPAN

878

740

2,706

1,945

1,456

10.7

9.1

2.0

13.5

11.4

SAUDI ARABIA 704.1

CHINA 11,990

SOUTH KOREA 742

21.4

8.5

14.6 53

The Sustainabilist | CLIMATE CHANGE

INTERVIEW

Bringing Art to the Fight The Founder of Qissa Go, Tanya Daud on challenging, informing and engaging audiences in conversations about the environment.

hat inspires you to do what you do?

We come from a region that is incredibly ancient, with a vast reservoir of cultural and literary heritage, some of the youngest (and largest) populations in the world and geographically situated in a place where it has massive importance for the rest of the world. That said, it is also a region which has been colonised in the past few centuries and subject to narratives, which have to a certain degree eaten away at our sense of pride in what we have and given us this need in return, which seeks Western

Body

approval or categorises something as important if looked at from that lens. This has resulted in a disconnect and a lack of ownership for so many people, especially those that are young from what their heritage is, why is it still relevant today and if thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s room to take it forward. All of this is what inspires and pushes us to do what we do. We recognise the importance of language and storytelling in shaping mindsets. The need to learn, unlearn, and re-learn many things ourselves, to reach out to especially those from our generation, to put our own narratives with nuance, to have conversations that matter, to create awareness with regards to the

diversity that exists, and to instill a sense of pride and ownership when it comes to our identity as a region. Can you tell us a bit about the vision behind the production/play and what was challenging about bringing it to life? Within the next 3 decades, the world is predicted to have anywhere between 25 million to a billion â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;climate refugeesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. The process of people paying for the mistakes that they have made and are making when it comes to a disregard for the environment has long begun but more

rd | July 2019 October 2017 Issue 01Issue | 2316

Our vision is not to create hopelessness though. It is, on the contrary, to bring home via storytelling how we are active contributors, that our priorities are misplaced, and that we can make a positive difference if each of us feels a sense of responsibility. It is an attempt to bring about behavioural change. And that remains our biggest challenge. Impacting and getting people to change their behaviour is a long process, one that needs support from various quarters of the community. We recognise this and which is why are developing a holistic Community Outreach program but we need support. While we have some wonderful partners, we need more from other initiatives to fund our productions so that we can take it to schools and beyond. We need partners who will come on board and help us tailor our message for different mediums. And, we want to support the government’s work in taking their message to the larger community but for that, we need them to back creative endeavours like ours. How did the audience respond to the

play and what did you hope they were thinking about on the drive home?

What’s next? Can you tell us more about your upcoming project(s)?

The response we got to the play was wonderful and extremely positive! This is a play that people of varying ages within a family were able to watch and our hope is that when they went back, they

QISSA’ GO has dedicated this entire year to Climate Change. We have just completed two back-to-back shows in SIMA Performing Arts in Al Serkal Avenue and Jameel Arts Centre this April. Our next move is two-pronged. One, to develop a holistic Community Outreach initiative and second, develop more stories to showcase at schools, universities, and other community avenues.

“

It is no longer ‘Climate Change’ but rather a ‘Climate Crisis’ and we need to act urgently because these are no longer stories that we are hearing but in fact, people are living it. Whether you live in an agrarian community, a coastal city or a concrete-based metropolis.

“

and more, it is making its presence felt now. In Asia, you have 60% of the world’s population residing and if you come to the South of the region, you will find places like Bangladesh which are ground zero for the crisis that is unfolding as you read this. It is no longer ‘Climate Change’ but rather a ‘Climate Crisis’ and we need to act urgently because these are no longer stories that we are hearing but in fact, people are living it. Whether you live in an agrarian community, a coastal city or a concrete-based metropolis.

spoke about how the characters were so relatable, thus seeing themselves in them, and how we are all responsible for the welfare of the community, that they were able to recognise how certain things that we think of as ‘development’ can be just short term gains if done without taking into account the benefit of the larger community, and many a time, is a loss for all those involved. We hope they felt inspired to be more vocal and active about the issue at hand or at least felt more aware somewhere within their subconscious after this encounter.

With Community Outreach, our focus is to inculcate the mindset of being a ‘Community Caretaker’ and since we are based in the UAE and there is a huge South Asian expatriate community, we are keen to take our message to them first. We are in the process of talking to our partners to have our production showcased in several avenues but we would love to hear from more people who would like to see and showcase such content. We are also working on developing field activities, workshops, create digital content, and do more community events in this vein so that we are able to engage with different segments of the society, especially young people, women and those from lower income brackets. The idea is to speak to them in a language and manner that is understandable and impactful for them, as opposed to speaking at them, and provide action items so that they feel empowered. If people want to approach us for Community Outreach or otherwise, they can find us at tanya@qissa-go.com and fraz@qissa-go.com. 55

Issue 16 | July 2019

What do you say to someone who doesn’t believe in recycling?

PERSON

www.accessaa.co.uk

Lucy Siegle The eco-lifestyle expert provides lessons in ethical, green living.

ow did you become passionate about the cause?

From an early age I was very interested in the story behind things, including clothes and toys. I was obviously a strange child! My grandad told me that oil and other resources should be used carefully. Back in the 1980s this was a very unusual viewpoint, but it made an impression. My grandad was also very keen on recycling and stuff like that and pointed out the links between our consumption and the natural world. When I got older, I was aware that people were campaigning about the hole in the ozone layer. I also became aware that innovation was providing answers and that it didn’t have to be this way. I also loved a slogan tee, Save the Planet/ Save the Whale – that type of thing – but fortunately I grew out of the t-shirts. But it was the ozone layer campaign that was the first campaign to make a real impression.

What are the most effective tools in recycling? Recycling is the last step. The strategies I’ve developed for minimising the flow of plastic in and out of your life is based on the 8Rs: Record, reduce, replace, refuse, reuse, refill, rethink and then if you get to the end of the list: recycle! The idea of rearranging molecules into new material is not new: Plato wrote about recycling. It is also full of promise and possibility, but it takes planning, infrastructure and commitment. I get annoyed when I see stuff labelled ‘recyclable’ because in theory everything is recyclable – it depends how much energy and effort you put into the material. But in a real-world global economy, very few materials are being successfully recycled. So the most effective tools are knowledge and foresight!

Well I mean theoretically it’s possible (see above) so not to believe in the possibility is ridiculous. But I understand that some are skeptical about how recycling works in practice because there has been a lot of subterfuge going on – all around the world – and many of us have lost faith. The industry has a hill to climb now, because it has to prove that it has ironed out the many issues. One of the things that would help enormously is for the makers of products to be responsible for funding the collection, sorting and processing of those materials. That’s called Extended Producer Responsibility and I think it’s great. What are the habits you’d recommend someone starts with in order to reduce their carbon footprint? Plastic is oil, and therefore your plastic consumption produces climate change emissions, so to lower that footprint, take control of the amount of plastic that’s coming into your life. I recommend you begin with a diary to document the flow of plastic into your household, and then follow my 8Rs including swapping single use items for renewable. In no time at all you will have halved, then quartered your plastic consumption. Remember everything you own and use has a carbon footprint, especially clothes that have a very heavy environmental footprint, because it takes so many resources and there are so many stages to making each piece of clothing. Meanwhile increasingly we are being entreated to through away our clothes before we have utilised them properly. So my simple rule when it comes to fashion is #30wears. Only buy what you can commit to wearing 30 times at least! 57

The Sustainabilist | CLIMATE CHANGE

PROJECT

Dulsco, Expo 2020 Dubai Celebrate Earth Day with ‘Clean-up 4 a Purpose’ Campaign Environmental solutions provider and Official Waste Management partner for forthcoming World Expo conducts desert clean up in Al Qudra, Dubai, to mark Earth Day, with a total of half a tonne of waste collected.

ommemorating the international environmental awareness date of Earth Day, Dulsco – the leading environmental solutions provider and Official Waste Management partner of Expo 2020 Dubai – hosted ‘Clean-up 4 a Purpose’ – a clean-up and recycling activity in collaboration with Expo 2020 Dubai and environmental campaigning organisation, DGrade, with a total of half a tonne of waste collected from the desert. Held in the Al Qudra region, ‘Clean-up 4 a Purpose’ was hosted in conjunction with DGrade’s ‘Simply Bottles’ – a nonprofit initiative that works with schools, businesses and other organisations to increase recycling rates of plastic water bottles in the UAE. The event saw 300 volunteers taking part in a pledge to ‘Reduce, Reuse, Repurpose and Recycle,’ thereby undertaking to adopt environmental consciousness in their lives. By spreading awareness, the event demonstrated at a micro-level how 58

Dulsco’s partnership with Expo 2020 Dubai will help deliver 85 per cent waste diversion from landfill in the lead up to and during the event, supporting the UAE’s aim to host one of the world’s most sustainable World Expos to date. Two hundred and fifty school children and their teachers from various schools in Dubai, along with 50 employees, volunteers and partners from Dulsco, Expo 2020 Dubai and DGrade took part in the event. The morning’s activities were divided amongst collecting the waste from open areas, segregating the recyclables in separate bags, and recording the weight of the material collected. The recyclables were then transported to Dulsco’s Material Recovery Facility for further segregation and recycling. The desert cleaners were also handed branded caps made out of recycled plastic bottles – wearable proof of what can be achieved with effective plastic recycling. ‘Clean-up 4 a Purpose’ got underway

with an awareness session on the different types of waste to be collected, the negative impact of waste on the environment, and the importance of recycling, followed with the volunteers keenly returning the desert area to its natural beauty. Once all the waste had been collected, sorted and weighed, recyclables such as cans, glass and metal would then be recovered in order to be made into new products through approved recyclers, while plastic bottles would be turned into apparel through DGrade. At the close of the morning, a total of half a ton of waste was collected, with all participants handed a certificate for completing the activity and being part of the initiative. Dulsco concluded the activity by announcing a future workshop for artists and children on turning waste into art. The events also align with Dulsco’s core commitment to powering better communities to play a central role in sustainable development in Dubai, the UAE and the region.

Issue 16 | July 2019

PRODUCT

For the Modern Workforce, Sustainability is a MustHave By Peter Oganesean Managing Director of HP Middle East & East Africa

ow, more than ever, employees have the power to choose when, where and how they want to work. This puts talent largely in the driver’s seat in defining the modern work environment.

businesses. In the European countries surveyed, one in three said they would change jobs if their employers didn’t implement sustainable business practices. 53 per cent respondents in Europe were adamant that sustainability should be part of every business strategy, and they said overlooking it would be as bad as ignoring diversity and inclusion. In fact, nearly one in three across Europe were so firm about this, they said they might express dissatisfaction in public forums if their employees were not fully committed to the environment. This was particularly true amongst Millennials. This research underscores that office supplies must play a vital role in every business’ commitment to sustainability, a natural next step after larger initiatives like Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certifications are complete. Yet, some supply decision makers do not realise that their purchasing choices are actually undercutting sustainability efforts, while increasing costs.

One of the biggest demands of this new era is clear: sustainability. HP released a new global study that proves sustainability is no longer nice-to-have, but rather an absolute must-have for the purposes of recruiting, hiring and retaining talent, and ultimately ensuring the longevity of organisations.

Few recognise these imitations can use 40 per cent more energy, consume about 55 per cent more fossil fuels and cause users to print up to 29 per cent more pages to get a clean print. What’s more, imitations don’t often perform as well as genuine products, and many purchasing agents do not know this. For instance, more than half of workers surveyed (53 per cent) said they didn’t realise nongenuine cartridges can’t be recycled or reused, meaning that most of them end up in landfills.

Of 20,000 participants — including the general population, office workers and office supply decision makers surveyed in 10 countries — 61 per cent believe business sustainability is mandatory for

Virtually all survey respondents said they want brands to proactively provide safe products and reduce environmental impact. 73 per cent in European countries surveyed said brands should exceed

government regulations and push for even tighter regulation on the safety of their products. Of equal interest, about 58 per cent of European consumers said they would pay more for products from companies that demonstrate their commitment to reducing their environmental impact. That is an important opening for brands and their partners to educate and evangelise for sustainability, gaining new customers and pleasing office workers as they do so. Sustainability is not only good for the planet, it’s beneficial for business as well. The bottom line: office and printing supplies can and should play a role in an organisation’s commitment to sustainability — and purchasing ecofriendly supplies is vital for building trust with current and future members of an organisation’s workforce. More than 80 per cent of HP ink cartridges and 100 per cent of HP LaserJet toner cartridges are now manufactured with “closed loop” recycled plastic. Since 2000, more than 199 million pounds of recycled content plastic have been used in 3.9 billion HP Original ink and toner cartridges. This includes diverting 716,000 pounds of plastic from reaching the ocean – the equivalent of more than 25 million plastic bottles – and repurposing it into HP cartridges. In a talent-driven economy that identifies sustainability as a must-have, companies simply cannot afford to look the other way when it comes to office supplies. By using genuine HP print and toner cartridges, companies not only realise more value through higher quality, higher yield and more consistent prints – they are underpinning a broader culture of sustainability absolutely critical to the modern workforce. 59

The Sustainabilist | CLIMATE CHANGE

INDEX

Green Jobs in the UAE per Year Species

2018

2021

2030

1,120

9,634

5,712

Energy efficiency

200

850

2,400

District Cooling

2,190

4000

7,670

Energy Renewable Energy*

Waste Management Collection

7,400

(7,400)

Recycling

1,436

4,725

9,450

590

758

Wastewater

3,800

(3,800)

Manufacturing

3,000

3,050

3,108

Buildings and construction

2,687

2,700

2,750

Agriculture

1,270

1,520

2,270

Fisheries

223

370

600

Transport

5,376

7,719

14,750

Waste to Energy

Forestry

Services Financial Services

100

Professional

450

(450)

Wholesale and retail

400

(400)

Tourism

6,000

6,475

7,900

Academia

154

(154)

Public Sector

13,750

(13,750)

TOTAL

49,520

67,657

83,422

Sources: P5, News Room: WAM P39, Top Tips: Drawdown.org P40. Top 10: Poore and Nemecek (2018), Science P52, Research: EIA; EU Emission Database for Global Atmospheric Research P60, Index: UAE Green Jobs Program: Jobs & Skills for the UAE’s Green Economy Transformation – MOCCAE

YOU BRING THE ATTITUDE, WE BRING THE KNOW-HOW.

Why should you consider a sustainability report? IT’s time to:

IDENTIFY

MEASURE

Make your achievements count

Define your long-term vision

MANAGE

CHANGE

Build resilience into your core business model

Adopt world leading best practices

Dubai Carbon is the ‘go-to’ thought leader with the ability to connect the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to the GRI Reporting Framework. Dubai Carbon provides tailor-made solutions to accelerate sustainable change. Our collaborative framework allows you to kick-start your sustainability reporting journey in the point most suitable for your internal capacity and experience.

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Attract top talent: Strong sustainability programs are a great way to attract, engage and retain talent.

Dubai Carbon Centre of Excellence PJSC PO Box 333992, Dubai, United Arab Emirates Phone +971 4 322 9853 Facsimile +971 4 385 4295 Email info@dcce.ae www.dcce.ae