Sustainability Report 2009 - 2010 Preserving our Heritage .. Protecting our Future .. P.O.Box 45553, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Tel. +971 2 445 4777 Fax +971 2 446 3339 www.ead.ae Copyright © 2010 Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, without permission in writing from the publisher. Photography by Hanne & Jens Eriksen, J K Brown, GBRMPA, Majid Al Mansouri, Salim Javid, Xavier Eichaker. Designed by Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi, P.O. Box 45553, Abu Dhabi, UAE Tel: +971-2-4454777 Fax: +971-2-4463339 Website: www.ead.ae H. H. Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan President of the United Arab Emirates H. H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces H. H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan Ruler’s Representative in the Western Region Table of Contents Managing Director’s Message 10 About this report 12 2009 Highlights Calendar 13 - 15 1. About us 16 1.1 EADs’ Organizational profile 17 - 18 1.2 EAD’s Awards in 2009 19 - 21 2. About our Governance, Engagement and Strategy 23 - 24 2.1 Our Mission, Vision and Values 25 2.2 Our Governance Framework 26 - 30 2.3 Our Management Systems 31 2.4 Our Stakeholder Engagement Approach 32 - 34 2.5 Our Strategic Plan 2010-2014 35 3. Overview of Our Sustainability Commitments and Performance 37 - 38 3.1 Our performance in 2009 38 - 40 3.2 Our Key Performance Indicators 41 - 45 3.3 Our priority issues and commitments for 2010 46 - 47 4. Our Economic Performance 49 - 51 4.1 Financial Accountability 52 4.2 Direct Economic Impacts 53 4.3 Market Presence 53 5. Our Environmental Performance – Direct Impact 55 - 58 5.1 Our Water Use 58 5.2 Our Waste Management 58 - 60 5.3 Greening Our IT 60 - 61 5.4 Greening our Transport 61 5.5 Our Energy Consumption 61 - 62 5.6 Our Climate Change and Greenhouse Gas Emissions 62 - 63 Table of Contents (continued...) 6. Our Environmental Performance – Collaborative Impact 65 - 66 6.1 Water Resources Management 66 - 68 6.2 Air Quality 68 - 69 6.3 Climate Change 69 - 70 6.4 Hazardous Materials Management 70 - 71 6.5 Waste 71 6.6 Environment, Health and Safety 71 - 72 6.7 Biodiversity 72 - 77 6.8 Environmental Awareness 77 - 78 6.9 Environmental Permitting Industrial and Development Projects 78 - 79 6.10 Local partnerships 79 - 81 6.11 International cooperation 81 - 82 7. Our Social Performance 85 7.1 Empowering Our People 86 - 89 7.2 Occupational Health and Safety 90 7.3 Our Customers 90 - 93 7.4 Our Suppliers 93 - 95 7.5 Our Community Relations 95 - 96 8. Report Scope and Boundary 99 8.1 Scope of the Report 100 - 104 8.2 Boundary of the Report 104 - 105 8.3 Data Measurement Methods 105 9. Assurance 107 10. GRI Index 107 - 117 11. Glossary 119 - 121 12. Acronyms 123 - 124 13. Reader’s Survey 125 Visit www.ead.ae to access a pdf version of this report. Sustainability Report 2009 Managing Director’s Message Mohammed Ahmed Al Bowardi Managing Director We understand that recent macro- Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi economic challenges have caused many organizations to rethink their The year 2009 was an exciting priorities. EAD strives to ensure year of many challenges and new that they do not lose sight of the initiatives in the Environment efficiency benefits that can be gained Agency - Abu Dhabi’s sustainability from remaining committed to journey. We define sustainability sustainability. as the integrated management of economic, environmental and Naturally, we are striving to social performance in a manner implement sustainability in our that creates optimal value for all internal operations every day. The key stakeholders in an ecologically EAD team has been instrumental sustainable manner. We strongly in moving the Agency forward to believe that the widespread adoption reduce our environmental footprint, in Abu Dhabi of sustainability thinking reach out to our community, and and sustainability management will make the EAD a great place to achieve the best possible results for work. Our long term goal is to Abu Dhabi’s precious environment. create an organisational culture of sustainability management that Among other highlights of 2009, inspires others. our dedicated employees were responsible for issuing 2,867 This is the third report in which environmental licenses, launched the we provide information to our Green Your Life Campaign and even stakeholders on our internal discovered a new breeding colony of sustainable performance impacts more than 2,000 flamingos. and measures. From the beginning, we set ambitious goals. We have We continue our overall strategic reached and surpassed the majority focus on promoting sustainability of our sustainability performance in Abu Dhabi through many targets. Some, we need to work channels, particularly the Abu Dhabi harder to achieve. We are proud to Sustainability Group launched in 2008 communicate openly with you and as a public-private partnership to update you on our achievements promote sustainability management. and challenges of 2009. 10 Sustainability Report 2009 About This Report About This Report Application level of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) reporting framework This is the third sustainability report We published our first Sustainability This report follows the Global Reporting report fulfils the requirement for a GRI published by the Environment Agency Report for 2007 in 2008. The 2007 Initiative G3 Guidelines. We hereby declare G3 Application Level A. This report is GRI – Abu Dhabi (EAD). The Report covers report, “Sustainability, Our Challenge… that to the best of our understanding this checked. our direct and indirect Sustainability Our Opportunity” is the first Global 2002 C C+ B B+ A A+ Impacts that resulted from our internal Reporting Initiative (GRI)-checked In accordance operations from January to December government agency report from the atory SDeelfc lared ured ured ured 2009. A“2r0a0b8 w oArnldn.u Ianl 2S0u0s9ta, iwnaeb ipliutyb lisRheepdo trhte” Mand TPahrirtyd xternally Ass xternally Ass xternally Ass This year’s report focuses on EAD’s direct that was also GRI-checked. According Checked ort E ort E ort E sustainability impacts and results. Over to GRI, EAD’s 2008 report was one al GRI Rep Rep Rep on Checked the last two years, we have refined our of only twenty-one reports written Opti focus and our methods for sustainability by government agencies worldwide in 2009 Highlights Calendar reporting. We have included new 2009. performance indicators and programs; although we are able to report less EAD believes that sustainability reporting environmental data this year due to is an indispensable management tool changing our Headquarters building. and a vital part of our commitments to Also, this document includes highlights our community. Although sustainability of our Collaborative Environmental January reporting by government agencies is not Impacts. Collaborative Environmental Won the Saudi Arabia for widespread; we are pleased to be one of Impact refers to the effect of EAD’s Environmental Management Award the first to take on the challenge. work to fulfil our mission, “To protect and conserve the environment for the Your feedback is critical to our people’s well being and a better life continuous improvement. We encourage for all” for the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. A separate and complimentary report, you to share your comments, questions March “The EAD Annual Report 2009-2010” and suggestions with us. You will find a Published the Uniform Plumbing Code – Abu Dhabi and the Guide for provides a detailed overview of EAD’s Readers’ Survey and our contact details Water Supply and Sanitation for Collaborative Impacts. on the last page of this report. the Emirate of Abu Dhabi 12 13 Sustainability Report 2009 About This Report April September Commemorated World Water Day 2009 with conservation campaign Discovered new breeding colony of more than 2,000 flamingos in the ‘Bu Al Siaief’ Marine Protected Area May Launched EAD Green IT Strategy and published Green IT Guide October 27 Schools Pledge to Reduce their Ecological Footprint through Sustainable Schools Initiative (Al Madaris Al Mustadama) June Celebrated the 15th anniversary of the Sheikh Zayed Falcon Release Programme, which has released 1,189 falcons back into the wild November August Organized 14th Annual Clean-Up Distributed 40,000 energy efficient light Arabia Campaign with Emirates Diving bulbs under outreach initiative of the Association with over 250 volunteers “Heroes of the UAE” participating 14 15 Sustainability Report 2009 About Us A b o u t U s 1. About Us 1.1 EAD’s Organizational Emirate of Abu Dhabi in coordination with About Us profile other stakeholders, particularly the Federal The Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi Environmental Agency and the UAE Minis- (EAD) is a governmental agency of 1,015 try of Environment and Water. employees that was established in 1996 with the overall function of protecting and con- We are committed to giving environmental serving the environment as well as promot- protection, regulation and natural resources ing sustainable development in the Emirate conservation a high priority on the national of Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. We are committed to protecting agenda. We provide a direction for govern- and managing biodiversity, providing a clean ment, business and the community to build environment and promoting Sustainable environmental considerations into the way Development in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. they plan and live without compromising The EAD is headquartered in the city of Abu Dhabi’s development. Abu Dhabi. In 2008, EAD was awarded ISO 9001 for EAD is the competent authority responsible for implementing federal and emirate-level Quality; ISO 14001 for Environment and environmental laws and regulations in the ISO 18001 for Health and Safety. 16 17