Circular Economy

TOWARDS A CIRCULAR ECONOMY

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) already has a strong commitment to sustainability, which is reflected in the overall purpose, vision and mission of the organisation. Building on the momentum of its sustainable business and operations, DEWA continues to move along this pathway by developing a clear circular economy strategy, with the objective to shift away from the traditional linear business approach to a circular economy.

DEWA has set a clear ambition to become a circular leader in the region by focusing on optimal resource use, creating social, economic and environmental value. Through DEWA’s circular economy model, DEWA continues to successfully perform its core activities in line with the best global practices.

DEWA’s circular economy model holds a particular role to contribute towards many of the strategies and objectives set on a global, federal and local level, which include the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Dubai Net Zero Emissions Strategy 2050, UAE Circular Economy Policy, and the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050.

DEWA’s Circular Economy Model provides insight into our focus pillars, while moving our business to become more circular. Five key circular principles are set to serve as a basis for circularity within DEWA:

• Circular Design and Use of Circular Material
• Optimise Asset Management
• Value Retention and End-of-Life Treatment
• Circular Partnerships
• Renewable Energy, Energy and Water Efficiency

Circular Design and Use of Circular Material

Across DEWA’s value chain, we focus on circularity from the design phase onwards. We aim to design for circularity based on the principles of using circular inflow, possibility to recover at end of life, and re-use, refurbish, and recycle at end of life in collaboration with DEWA partners and suppliers.

Optimise Asset Management

We aim to optimise the use of DEWA assets by logging circular asset data including its (lifespan, maintenance cycles, and the required material content), using predictive maintenance, and repairing and refurbishing instead of replacing.

Value retention and product end-of-life treatment

At end-of lifetime of assets and products, we aim to retain as much value by re-using material internally, re-selling externally, repairing/refurbishing, and only recycling if none of higher value retention processes are possible.

Circular Partnerships

DEWA seeks to develop strategic collaboration in the value chain by looking for:

• Circular partnerships with material suppliers
• End-of-life treatment partners
• Consumers to improve circular processes

Renewable Energy, Energy and Water Efficiency

DEWA’s circular economy related efforts are focused on the expansion of clean and renewable energy capacity and the improvement of its operations’ energy and water efficiency.

Extended value chain of DEWA’s Circular Economy

DEWA aims to collaborate with stakeholders in the value chain by focusing on Smart User, Circular Procurement and Supplier after Engagement.

• Smart User : DEWA aims to actively support its customers in optimising the energy consumption and lowering resources usage by focusing on real-life data and offering Smart Use solutions.

• Suppliers Engagement : It to order to ensure full value chain collaboration, DEWA engages with its suppliers on the use of circular material, the re-use of assets, and creating collaborations to jointly contribute to the transition towards a circular economy.

• Circular Procurement : It to DEWA sets circular procurement criteria for its assets and equipment, to ensure circular procurement throughout the value chain.