Building a green dream

Vivian Salama

• Last Updated: May 07. 2008 12:36AM UAE / May 6. 2008 8:36PM GMT

While the UAE’s explosive development attracts admiration from around the world, ecologists are deeply worried that the country is consuming resources at an unsustainable rate.

The UAE has come in for harsh criticism from environmental awareness groups such as the World Wildlife Federation (WWF).

In its Living Planet Report last year, the WWF said the UAE used more biologically productive land to provide resources and more seawater to absorb waste than any other country proportionate to its size.

“The UAE is living as if they have 6.6 planets,” said Ian Cheshire, the chief executive of Kingfisher, a UK-based home furnishing centre.

“At the risk of naming and shaming ... sustainability is just not there,” Mr Cheshire told delegates at last month’s World Retail Congress in Barcelona, citing the Living Planet Report.

With an annual population growth of more than five per cent driving an ever-mounting demand for retail and residential space, plus extreme summer temperatures, UAE society is guzzling resources.

“The whole business model is based on much higher resources,” Mr Cheshire said, conceding that the UAE’s intensive expansion put it at a disadvantage to countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom, which experienced their growth booms more than a century ago.

“It’s to be expected,” he said. “The key in the UAE now is to make it more manageable.”

A major example of resource-gobbling consumption is the UAE’s shopping malls, which devour energy to give shoppers air-conditioned relief from the intense heat outside.

Malls designed for energy conservation can save as much as 40 per cent of the energy lost in conventional buildings, but the UAE has yet to see such a complex and its shopping centres are among the worst violators of “green” conservation.

Eco-friendly malls and department stores almost always draw more occupants and higher rents at lower cost, Mr Cheshire said.

Sustainability activists say even the simplest business modifications can give retailers a significant edge over the competition.

The good news is that the UAE is already planning to shift to cleaner production, renewable energy, better water resource management, the reduction of solid waste and sewage treatment, the reuse and recycling of materials and improved public health practices.

Businesses are also looking at Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) issues, said Habiba al Marashi, chairman of the Emirates Environmental Group (EEG) and a board member of the UN Global Compact.

“Environmental performance is under a renewed spotlight, given the common interest in issues like the effect of climate change, emissions, energy efficiency, wastes, water, and so on,” Ms Marashi said.

“There are businesses that are going ahead in terms of their CSR programmes in view of improving corporate image, profitability and managing their impact all at the same time.”

Among businesses leaning towards ecological responsibility are a handful of retailers. In March, Géant hypermarkets became the first retailer in Dubai to introduce deposit payments for plastic bags. Its Ibn Battuta Mall branch charges 25 fils per bag and customers are encouraged to recycle the bags or return them for reimbursement. Consumption of plastic bags at the outlet fell about 50 per cent in the first few weeks of the scheme, Géant officials said.

Plastic bags are non-biodegradable and can be deadly to animals and birds that think they are food. Between 500 billion and one trillion plastic bags are used worldwide each year, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency.

Green trends in kitchens and bathrooms are also gaining popularity in the Gulf, with products made from bamboo or ordinary stone phasing out non-renewable materials such as granite, marble and onyx.

Several non-retail sectors have already picked up on the advantages of going green. The Dubai-based automation and technology firm Pacific Control has invested in the first platinum-rated green building in the UAE and inspired other buildings to follow its example. The building is eco-friendly and advocates say it will benefit from this in the long-run.

More than 40 companies, including the National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Dubai Electric and Water Authority (DEWA), the power and automation technology group ABB, and the oil giant Shell, are helping to promote CSR concepts in the country and across the GCC. DEWA, for example, has teamed up with overseas partners to build a Dh6 billion (US$22bn) power station using hydrogen extracted from coal.

The Abu Dhabi-based Masdar is set to become a global trendsetter for smart urban planning, renewable energy, sustainable materials and advanced recycling by converting 3.7 square kilometres of desert into an eco-friendly city.

Cost is often a major concern for companies switching to better sustainability practices. Experts say cost depends on the nature of the business, but it is possible to show a positive return in the long term, as companies around the world have proven.

At the West Edmonton Mall, for instance, a 493,000 square metre shopping centre in Alberta, Canada, 42 variable fans were converted to use less energy. The cost was Canadian $970,000 (Dh3.5 mn), but the change was estimated to save Canadian $524,295.

In 1999, the mall retrofitted all its fluorescent lighting. This cost Canadian $826,000, but conserved 7,802,842 kWh of energy per year, reducing the mall’s electricity bill by about 5 per cent.

“The initial cost may be substantial, but it will have bottom line benefits like protecting the company from penalties from government regulations, generating profit due to increasing efficiency of operation due to the adoption of new technology and gaining new clients who prefer eco-friendly companies,” said Ms Marashi. “Costs in implementing sustainability practices should be looked upon as investments.”

The retail industry has only just jumped on the sustainability bandwagon, recognising the importance of issues such as the packaging of products and the disposal of packaging.

“It’s definitely been a long time coming,” said Michael Spenley, head of corporate responsibility for Littlewoods Shop Direct Group and chairman of the UN Global Compact UK Network.

“The UAE, while so advanced in many things, has only just begun – but we are definitely beginning to see a new thing.”

CSR advocates say small business modifications do not go unnoticed by customers.

According to a Green and Ethical Consumers report released last year by the market research group Mintel, 24 per cent of consumers in the UK are “keen to be green” and go out of their way in search of companies with environmentally friendly business practices.

Sixteen per cent of people based almost all of their consumer decisions on a company’s sustainability practices, the report added.

Another 23 per cent were “confused but willing” to take on eco-friendly practices, but needed guidance from companies involved in the initiative. However, 20 per cent of consumers were too busy to care about sustainability and 17 per cent suffered from “green overload”, the study said.

“The result in the end is that 63 per cent of consumers are engaged with green issues,” said Mr Cheshire. “It’s a win-win situation for businesses.”

While no formal study has been conducted among GCC consumers, Ms Marashi says that the “keen to be green” and “confused but willing” consumers offers local retailers the advantage of earning credibility with customers, while educating them in sustainability initiatives.

vsalama@thenational.ae