Dubai-based global marine terminal operator DP World has been awarded a leadership A- score by the UK’s Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), highlighting its role in the ‘Water Transportation - Ports and Services’ category.

CDP is the only global disclosure system for companies, cities, states and regions to manage their environmental impacts and for investors or purchasers to access environmental information for use in financial decisions.

DP World received the honour due to implementing best practice in greenhouse gas emissions and improving environmental performance, said a statement from the company.

In 2010, DP World was the first international marine and inland trade services provider to join the renowned CDP, which holds the most comprehensive set of global corporate environmental data.

Through its climate change programme, thousands of the world’s largest companies disclose information on their greenhouse-gas emissions, energy use and climate change risks.

DP World’s Global Safety and Environment team has since been reporting action plans across its portfolio, monitoring energy use, making terminal operations more efficient, embracing renewable energy projects and investing in low-carbon technologies, it said.

A recent example is the company’s ‘Go Green Week’, a collaboration in its third year with the world’s leading port operators to address three main ecological areas – reuse and recycle, climate change and community, it added.

Different activities take place each year, often with neighbouring ports, across DP World’s global portfolio of 77 operating marine and inland terminals in 40 countries. Each business unit choses one or more of several activities, including reusing waste materials from the port, food waste composting, clean-up of terminal and surrounding areas, energy saving drives, tree planting, volunteering at local wildlife parks and supporting environmental education for local communities, said a statement.

Another example is the DP World-commissioned installation of 88,000 rooftop solar panels on its Dubai facilities making it the largest distributed solar rooftop project in the Middle East. The panels will produce enough clean power for 3,000 homes a year and supports the UAE Vision 2021 for a sustainable environment.

In other CDP scoring categories such as governance and strategy, risk and opportunity management, and emissions management, DP World also excelled, clocking numbers much higher than sector and region averages, it stated.

DP World group chairman and CEO Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, said: “I am delighted with the tremendous improvements in our environmental performance, which is key in helping us build a legacy for future generations.”

“We strive to ensure everything we do leaves long-term benefits for the world we live in and reducing our carbon emissions is a top priority,” he said.

“We are making progress on other fronts too. Our collaboration with United for Wildlife to prevent trade in endangered species is just one example of a range of sustainability programmes on the environment, in education and support for communities across the world where we operate,” he added.

DP World global safety and environment director Nabil Battal, said: “Being able to measure and monitor our progress in reducing greenhouse-gas emissions is necessary to benchmark our efforts against those of other stakeholders with common goals.”

“It ensures we all work together to improving our environmental performance and a combined effort is essential to make a meaningful difference,” he said.

“So while reporting on our efforts transparently and clearly through CDP will spur further improvements in our own performance, it can also help improve decision-making on climate change for investors, business and policy-makers,” he concluded. – TradeArabia News Service