Tabreed publishes its first ESG report
17 March, 2021 – Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates: National Central Cooling Company PJSC (Tabreed), the leading international district cooling developer based in the UAE, today published its first annual ESG Report, detailing the company’s 2020 environmental, social, and governance performance in the communities in which it operates.
Prepared in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards, the international framework for sustainability reporting, the report offers greater insights in to the company’s activities and achievement and sets a baseline for measuring the company’s future ESG as a key industry leader.
Despite a challenging year, Tabreed continued to make considerable progress on its business objectives whilst also ensuring the health and safety of its staff across all its operational sites. In 2020, Tabreed added six new district cooling plants in its portfolio, and added over 50,000 new customer connections, resulting in the delivery of 1,403,819 RT across its operations. The net result was the displacement of over 1.35m metric tons of CO2 emissions – equivalent to removing 193,129 passenger vehicles off the road over the course of the year – in addition to electricity savings of 2.26 billion kilowatt/hours – enough to power 128,443 homes every year.
In a year unlike any other, the company maintained business continuity whilst ensuring the health and safety of its staff and partners across all Tabreed entities. The company sustained a strong safety performance recording zero operational fatalities, and over 12 million man-hours without time lost to injury.
Commenting on the report, Khaled Abdulla Al Qubaisi, Chairman at Tabreed said: “Meeting the growing demand for cooling in the coming years will require significant investment. Increased demand for cooling will also impact emission levels, which underscores the need to continue to pursue sustainable cooling projects to mitigate the risks of climate change. Tabreed’s 2020 ESG report will outline how it is addressing this dual challenge globally, offering greater insight into the company’s activities and achievements over the past year, and outlining its ESG philosophy moving forward.”
Commenting on the announcement, Bader Al Lamki, CEO at Tabreed said: “At Tabreed, we believe in the responsible supply of cooling, in ways that support the sustainable development of not only our company, but of the communities we serve. Transparently reporting our ESG accomplishment is an important way to hold ourselves accountable for improving our own sustainability performance. I am proud to say that we made great strides on this front in 2020 and in particular our partnerships and initiatives with the United Nations through UNEP and the Cool Coalition, and we now look forward to what the future holds.”
As part of its commitment to encouraging Emiratis to pursue careers in the private sector and empower local talent to flourish, the report details Tabreed’s Emiratization efforts, as well as its current rate, which stands at 41%, one of the highest rates for a private company in the UAE.
In parallel, the report also outlines Tabreed’s CSR efforts in 2020, which were bookended by the launch of the #TabreedCares initiative, through a number of individual programs run across Tabreed’s operations in collaboration with partners across the region. This included financial contributions to help facilitate COVID-19 testing and aid local communities affected by the pandemic, in addition to technical assistance to support operational precautionary measures at select sites.
For over 22 years, Tabreed has been the partner of choice for organizations seeking environmentally friendly cooling solutions to support their sustainability goals and to reduce their overall energy consumption and carbon footprint. With 86 district cooling plants, Tabreed currently delivers over 1.4 million RT to key developments, including iconic projects such as the Burj Khalifa, Dubai Opera, The Dubai Mall, Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Al Maryah Island, Yas Island, the Dubai Metro, the Bahrain Financial Harbour and the Jabal Omar Development in the Holy City of Mecca in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
To view Tabreed’s 2020 ESG report in its entirety, please click here.