RASHA TABILA (ABU DHABI)

Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Company (ADNEC) has launched a series of innovative technologies and initiatives to reduce carbon emissions and contribute to achieving climate neutrality, in line with the UAE’s goals.

As part of these initiatives, ADNEC Group has implemented artificial intelligence (AI) to improve energy consumption and reduce water consumption, in line with its commitment to reducing carbon emissions by 5% annually and reduce energy consumption by the same rate in all operations.

ADNEC has worked to provide the latest energy-saving technologies in all its centres, in addition to relying more on solar energy. The company recently developed its strategic sustainability plan for the group’s seven business sectors, which includes a set of key initiatives that contribute to achieving climate neutrality by 2045 instead of 2050, in line with the UAE’s strategic initiative to achieve climate neutrality by 2050.

The strategic plan includes long-term environmental, social, and corporate governance practices determine future sustainability priorities, the most important of which are energy management, recycling, and reducing the company’s carbon footprint. Other priorities include social sustainability efforts, like making a sustainable societal impact and effectively involving local community institutions.

ADNEC’s strategic plan was developed in accordance with best practices, taken from global comparative studies in line with international sustainability policies, such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Agreement, and the UAE’s sustainability plans, such as the Energy Strategy 2030, the Green Agenda, the National Climate Change Plan, and the Environmental Vision 2030.

Among ADNEC’s sustainability achievements was the company’s ability to recycle 49% of the waste generated from the group’s operations in 2022. The total waste generated across the ADNEC Group last year reached 791,000kg, while the total recycled quantity reached 391,000kg.

The company is also able to generate energy from waste, and has made extensive efforts to reduce water consumption by employing advanced technology. The group has also helped reduce carbon emissions by 10,000 tonnes through its recycling operations, with a total 4,434.11 tonnes of materials recycled in the group’s centres in the last decade.

Since 2010, ADNEC Group has adopted sustainability practices in the centres it owns and operates, including the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, Al Ain Convention Centre, and ExCeL London.

  • ADNEC Group implemented (AI) to improve energy consumption

 

ADNEC Group was the first global entity to pledge to reduce carbon emissions to zero by 2050, as a member of the Carbon Neutral Events Initiative, which was organised by the International Joint Council for the Conference Industry.

The initiative aimed to set a sector-specific framework for reducing carbon emissions by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, in addition to establishing ways to measure the total greenhouse gas emissions produced by the sector, preparing progress reports, and allocating part of its resources to develop a collective road map towards emissions reduction.

Sustainability is an essential part of the ADNEC Group’s strategy, with environmentally friendly initiatives in waste management, energy conservation, and responsible sourcing, as well as integrating sustainable practices into the company’s event management, food and beverage, and infrastructure development work.

ADNEC is working to reduce its carbon footprint and set a standard for the meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) industry. The Group recently launched a detailed decarbonisation strategy for all its sectors by measuring carbon emissions, which showed a total of 97,000 tonnes of carbon emissions in its seven business sectors.

To reduce emissions, work is underway on an energy consumption management system, and AI systems are being integrated into buildings to improve energy consumption. ADNEC Group also launched an initiative to separate plastics and manage waste, and implemented a comprehensive project to improve water consumption using smart sensors.

ADNEC’s electricity consumption in 2022, amounted to 21,901,239 kilowatt-hours, and through several initiatives, such as installing LED lights, solar panels, and other energy control systems, the company is working to reduce this figure by 5% annually.