Under the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the State, may Allah protect him, to set 2023 as the Year of Sustainability in the UAE, and in line with the state’s hosting of the 28th United Nations climate change conference (COP28), the Municipality and Planning Department – Ajman (MPDA) announced the launch of the Ajman Carbon-Neutral Path during its participation in the event.
In this vein, His Excellency Abdul Rahman Mohammed Al Nuaimi –MPDA’s Director General, asserted that the Path is geared towards leading Ajman in curbing emissions and achieving carbon neutrality, and that the project, thanks to its distinct ideas, is the first of its kind in the region.
His Excellency added that by adopting the initiative in the first phase for industrial facilities, the MPDA seeks to work on short-term and long-term plans to curb carbon emissions generated by the myriad activities of facilities and to contribute to achieving sustainable development goals. In the second phase, the initiative will cover business and governmental institutions to reach carbon neutrality by 2050.It adopts several green practices to be applied to ensure that the goals are achieved by enhancing the use of clean energy to generate electricity, as well as sorting, recycling, and sorting waste from the source, work on using environmentally friendly means of transportation, and change the production system and relying on waste recycling, His Excellency noted.
For his part, Engineer Khalid Moeen Al Hosani, Executive Director of the MPDA’s Public Health and Environment Sector, spoke about the environmental label that belongs to the initiative and distinguishes it. The label will play an effective role ingranting industrial institutions commercial and environmental privileges that contribute to reinforcing and increasing the trade exchange volume and promoting the green economy principle. The project includes several stages that begin with an assessment of the industrial facility through counting and calculating the carbon footprint of the industrial facility and then starting to identify the procedures that should be followed so as to reduce the facility’s carbon footprint as an initial step.
Working on the initiative will commence at the beginning of next year within a clear plan to help introduce the initiative, its implementation mechanisms, and the steps and evidence for obtaining the label, Al Hosani noted.
The MPDA voiced its pride in intensifying its efforts with all state institutions and departments to achieve sustainability and keep a better environment preserved for future generations.
