Emaar Hospitality Group launches sustainability campaign

Emaar Hospitality Group has rolled out The Pearl Pledge, a sustainability campaign promoting marine conservation and the sustainable use of water across all group’s assets.

The Pearl Pledge will create awareness of protecting and conserving the oceans, and to strengthen the adoption of sustainable water, energy and resource management practices across all the hotels, serviced residences, restaurants and leisure attractions of Emaar Hospitality Group, the hospitality and leisure business of global developer Emaar Properties and the Expo 2020 Dubai Official Hotel & Hospitality Partner.  

In a statement, Olivier Harnisch, CEO of Emaar Hospitality Group, which is the Official Hotel & Hospitality Partner of Expo 2020 Dubai, said the group is “committed to upholding the values that make the global event relevant to the whole of humanity.”

Harnisch pointed out the relevancy of the pledge since sustainability are the sub-themes of Expo 2020 Dubai.  He also added: “Our new campaign also supports the UN Sustainable Development Goals 6 and 14, aimed at ensuring the availability and sustainable management of water, and conserve oceans, seas and marine resources, respectively.”

He also said said how the Emaar Hospitality Group’s focus on “going green is moving to the next level. “It has continuously rolled out green initiatives to manage and optimise water, energy and resource use efficiency.”

Emaar Hospitality Group has also partnered with the recently rebranded environmental conservation organisation Emirates Nature-WWF. The group said this will help it to deliver a series of initiatives that will engage both employees and guests to understand how small changes can make a big difference.

The launch of The Pearl Pledge was also used as a platform to announce the group’s partnership with Dubai Sustainable Tourism (DST) to introduce DST’s ‘Hospitality Industry Board Game,’ developed in partnership with Emirates Nature-WWF, for all staff members.

According to the statement, the game will help employees to measure their consumption baseline, understand which areas of the hotel have significant water and electricity consumption and how to save money while reducing consumption of water, energy and other resources.

The roll out of The Pearl Pledge will see the hospitality company aim to achieve Green Key certification for all its hotels, the statement revealed.

The group said that it will engage with the green goals outlined by UAE Vision 2021, the UAE Green Growth Strategy, the Dubai Plan 2021, and the Dubai Demand Side Management Strategy and adopt best practices outlined by Emirates Nature-WWF.

The immediate goals of the group will see it decrease water consumption across its hotels by 30% and decrease energy consumption by 25% by 2021. The group is also looking to cut waste through the 4R approach will be – refusing, reducing, reusing and recycling.

“Every member of the Emaar Hospitality Group will be duty-bound to The Pearl Pledge with a clear communication framework, cultural integration best practices and the formation of on-the-ground and operational steering teams currently being set in place,” said Harnisch. “Within a year, we aim to achieve significant operational cost savings through water, waste and energy management.”

The group’s energy reducing measures include the implementation of a towel and linen programme and new technologies to reduce water consumption across its hotels.  Incandescent bulbs will be replaced with LEDs, the use of electric cars and solar energy will be incorporated into hotels.

A waste reduction programme plans to divert 75% of waste from landfill. Many hotels under the Group have already implemented the Winnow system to measure and manage food waste, said the statement.

Yousuf Lootah, Executive Director – Tourism Development & Investments, Dubai Tourism (DT), said: “Guided by the future focused vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to transform Dubai into a sustainable environmental destination, the Dubai Sustainable Tourism initiative is a key driver for ensuring the ongoing development of the industry. An essential aspect of ensuring the realisation of our objectives is the strength of Dubai’s public-private sector partnerships, and we endorse programmes such as The Pearl Pledge, which encourage hotels and hospitality establishments to evaluate their processes, and make tangible improvements to their consumption and waste programmes.”

Planned sustainability best practices at the group’s hotels include decreasing the number of plastic bottles and the amount of paper printed, and successfully segregating waste into plastics, aluminium and metals, paper and cardboard, and organic material.

The group said it will adopt “a responsible procurement programme that covers the use of eco-friendly paper and biodegradable disposables while limiting the use of straws. All members of staff will be trained to manage energy, water and waste consumption baselines.”