Dubai Electricity & Water Authority | DEWA issues its fifth annual Sustainability Report 2017 reflecting its long-term commitment to sustainability

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) issued its fifth annual Sustainability Report 2017 as part of its efforts to enhance the country's competitiveness and Dubai's status as a global centre for sustainability and green economy. This step is in line with its commitment to share its performance and best practices with its partners and stakeholders, and engaging them in their path to sustainability.

The report highlights DEWA’s efforts to promote sustainability in all its environmental, social and economic aspects, providing a sustainable model for energy and water conservation, and supporting economic growth without harming the environment and its natural resources. DEWA will also implement and adopt the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), the world’s greatest corporate sustainability initiative, announced by DEWA earlier this year, to become the UAE’s first government utility to join the UNGC and adopt its ten basic principles in the fields of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption. The report also highlights DEWA’s achievements in support of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals 2030 to address the pressing environmental, political and economic challenges the world is facing.

“DEWA has always been keen on publishing its annual Sustainability Report as part of its vision to become a sustainable innovative world-class utility. The fifth Sustainability Report demonstrates our efforts during 2017 and our key role in achieving comprehensive sustainable development in Dubai and the UAE, and supports the main tracks and strategic objectives of the long-term national initiative ‘A Green Economy for Sustainable Development’ that was launched by HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to build a green economy in the UAE. The report is a comprehensive and reliable reference of our achievements from the past year towards reaching the goals of the UAE Centennial 2071 and the UAE Vision 2021 that aim to transform the UAE into one of the best countries in the world. DEWA also plays a key role in achieving the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050, to make Dubai a global centre for clean energy and green economy, and provide 75% of Dubai's clean energy by 2050. DEWA also supports the Demand Side Management Strategy that aims to reduce energy and water consumption by 30% by 2030,” said HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of DEWA.

“DEWA seeks to continuously strengthen Dubai’s international position in sustainability and the creation of a green economy. Sustainability is therefore, an integral part of our vision and mission, and is embedded in everything we do. Our concept of sustainability extends beyond our operations, into our supply chains, our communities, the wider society and Dubai’s economy. We have adopted a triple-bottom line concept to include financial, social and environmental dimensions, giving us an integrated strategy for sustainable business. As part of our strategic planning approach, we conduct research, analyses and comparisons to get a comprehensive overview of our operational context, which provides a sustainable road map that showcases DEWA’s work. We have affirmed our place at the forefront of global reporting as we are part of the Standards Pioneers programme launched by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). The programme includes 100 global organisations that have adopted the new global reporting standards for sustainability reporting that was launched by the GRI in October 2016. This demonstrates the level of sophistication in the global sustainability reporting process.”

In the area of energy and climate change, the report indicates a reduction in nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions by 63% in 2017, compared with 2007, and an improvement in the cumulative efficiency between 2006 and 2017 by 28.87%, equivalent to a reduction of 43.9 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions, with a production capacity of 10,200MW in 2017. DEWA reduced losses in power transmission and distribution networks to 3.3%, an improvement of 30% compared to 2007.  DEWA’s water network losses in 2017 were 7.06% during 2017, which is one of the lowest in the world. DEWA also met 100% of Dubai's water needs and completed the installation of 489,729 smart water meters in the Emirate as of 2017.

The report also pointed out that DEWA provided electricity services to 796,764 customers, and water services to 705,376 customers in 2017. The UAE, represented by DEWA, is ranked first globally in getting electricity, according to the World Bank Doing Business 2018, which measures the ease of doing business in 190 countries from around the world. DEWA also achieved the lowest Customer Minutes Lost per year (CML) of 2.68 minutes compared to 15 minutes recorded by leading utilities in the European Union.

At the community level, the report illustrates DEWA’s efforts in humanitarian, charitable and volunteer work. In 2017, it launched a total of 27 social and humanitarian initiatives and recorded 45,000 volunteer hours through its employees. Over the past few years, DEWA’s CSR efforts contributed to increasing the community's happiness from 82% in 2013 to 92% in 2017.

“The main objective of the Sustainability Report is to identify stakeholders related to sustainability performance and practices. The report focuses on the most prominent areas of sustainability, including sustainable development, economic development, trade, energy and climate change, water, environmental protection, employees and society. It also highlights DEWA’s most important achievements in terms of the key financial, social and environmental determinants of sustainability. The report has been prepared in accordance with the GRI standards, and audited by an external third-party in accordance with International Standards on Assurance Engagements (ISAE 3000),” said Waleed Salman, Executive Vice President of Business Development and Excellence at DEWA.