There is still time to apply for the 2021 MENA Green Building Awards – submit your application before the 5^th September.

The Annual MENA Green Building Awards celebrates and recognizes achievements, success stories and best practices across the region. Organized by EmiratesGBC, the awards are endorsed by World Green Building Council and held in partnership with regional Green Building Councils from Jordan,  Lebanon, Egypt, Kuwait, Morocco, Bahrain and Palestine.

The Awards are supported by Platinum Partners, Majid Al Futtaim & Knauf , Gold Sponsor UK CARES and  KEO and Industry Partner Exeed are Category Sponsors.

This year the awards has 17 categories: Net Zero Building Project of the Year; Green Building Project; Sustainable Design Project; Facility Management Organisation; Contractor; Developer; Consultancy; Green Building Product – Indoor Air Quality, Energy Management, Water Management, Green Building Material – Construction Material; Green Building Research Award; Training Initiative of the Year; Retrofit Project of the Year; Best Operations & Maintenance (existing building); Healthy Space Project of the Year and SME of the Year. KPMG has been selected as the official Auditor of the Awards to support a fair and transparent process of determining the short-listed and winning organisations.

To find out more please visit the MENA Green Building Awards website and download the applicant guidelines.

To encourage academia engagement, the awards also includes the Dr. Owainati Student Excellence Award, an award eligible for students who showcase outstanding work in sustainability. The Student Excellence Award is sponsored by Dr. Sadek Owainati, a Co-Founder of EmiratesGBC.

EmiratesGBC are pleased to offer organizations the opportunity to partner on this prestigious event – with different tiers of sponsorship packages ranging from AED 55,000 to AED 10,000, with extensive benefits, it’s an opportunity to demonstrate sustainability leadership and support the work of EmiratesGBC. Click here to find our more and contact events@emiratesgbc.org for more information.

Due to feedback and request from the industry and popular request, the 10th Annual EmiratesGBC Congress has been rescheduled to the 2^nd November 2021. Held under the Patronage of the Ministry of Climate Change & Environment this year’s congress has the theme: 15 years of EmiratesGBC: From Green Buildings towards Sustainable Cities 2030

The Congress will take you on a journey through the UAE’s past, present and future as we celebrate the growth of the green building movement from humble beginnings to a driving force shaping the nation’s-built environment.

Our speakers will reflect on the challenge & impact of rapid population and urban growth and what has been learnt from the achievements and success stories over the years. The Congress will discuss the current trends and drivers influencing the sector as the world continues to recover from COVID-19, before looking ahead to 2030 and the pathway to a net zero built environment within the UAE.

Spaces are limited due to social distancing, make sure you that register early to secure your place:

The Congress is supported by Platinum Partners, Majid Al Futtaim and Knauf and Session sponsors KEO, and Industry Partner Saint-Gobain.

EmiratesGBC are pleased to offer organizations the opportunity to partner on this prestigious event – with different tiers of sponsorship packages ranging from AED 55,000 to AED 10,000, with extensive benefits, it’s an opportunity to demonstrate sustainability leadership and support the work of EmiratesGBC. Click here to find our more and contact events@emiratesgbc.org for more information.

Emirates Green Building Council in collaboration with HSBC Middle East, has launched a capacity building training programme to support Socially Responsible Practices relating to worker welfare, labour practices and policies, for companies involved in delivering construction projects & building services within the UAE. Our first trainings were held at the end of the August and attended by a range of different organization from the construction and building services sector from developers, contractors and suppliers. Participants were given a through overview of the main areas where they can strengthen polices and procedures to enhance worker welfare.

The training programme was delivered by Equidem, a leading consultancy and expert in the field and is supported by knowledge partner Multiplex. The training focuses on two streams: Stream 1: Socially Responsible Labour Practices and Stream 2: Worker Financial Capability.

Registration is open – if you are a developer, contractor or labour supply company in the UAE and would like to find out more about this free training programme and how you can get involved please register here or contact training@emiratesgbc.org.

Learn the fundamentals of Building Retrofit, Energy Efficiency, Indoor environmental quality and much more through EmiratesGBC’s Building Retrofit Training Introductory course or learn how to undertake a retrofit and become a Certified Specialist through the Advanced course, now internationally recognized through TUV Middle East. Each course has been divided into 4-hour modules and will be led by our expert facilitators through an online platform that can be accessed from anywhere in the region.

The program is in partnership with Dubai Supreme Council of Energy and Masdar (Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company) and is endorsed by Etihad ESCO. The Building Retrofit Specialist certification is now also recognized by RSB Dubai as part of its ESCO accreditation scheme.

The Advanced Building Retrofit Training is endorsed by TUV Rheinland Middle East Those and participants who pass the examination conducted by PersCert TÜV will receive the ‘Building Retrofit Specialist with TÜV Rheinland Certified Qualification’, an internationally recognised certificate for building retrofit.

The program offers two levels:

• Advanced Building Retrofit Training Course: This two-day course is perfect for engineers and technical experts with prior experience or currently undertaking retrofit projects who wish to enhance and streamline their knowledge of retrofit principles and methods. Participants of the course will undertake an examination which will allow them to become an EmiratesGBC certified Building Retrofit Specialist. EmiratesGBC are partnering with a global recognized organization to provide certification to the qualification. Contact us for more details on training@emiratesgbc.org.
• Introductory Building Retrofit Training: For non-technical professionals looking for an overview of Building Retrofit methods and provides knowledge of sustainability to industry professionals looking to understand the fundamentals of building retrofit.

Further information about the courses, dates and eligibility guidelines can be found on the Building Retrofit Training webpage. EmiratesGBC can also schedule in-house training for groups of 10 or more, please contact training@emiratesgbc.org to request a proposal. EmiratesGBC members and partners will receive a 20% discount off the registration fees.

On August 25^th, EmiratesGBC Partner, the Clean Energy Business Council, and EmiratesGBC Corporate Member, Arup, delivered a technical webinar on Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) in the UAE. The webinar discussed what is V2G and its important for the energy transition, along with the needed policies to enable the integration of V2G across the UAE buildings and some case studies from successful implemented pilot projects from Europe and the US.

You can watch the webinar here.

Our next webinar will be facilitated by EmiratesGBC Corporate Member, Siemens, on 12^th October. The topic they will be covering is Intelligent Lighting Controls & Demand-Based HVAC Control. We’ll be sending out more information in the upcoming weeks, so be sure to keep an eye out.

We have filled out our slots for 2021 calendars, so if you are interested in facilitating a workshop/webinar in 2022 please email us at technicalworkshops@emiratesgbc.org.

We are proud to announce that our Net Zero Program is being sponsored the Net Zero Centre of Excellence Champions, Majid Al Futtaim! We are delighted to have them join the net zero movement through their leadership and their commitment to Net Positive by 2040!

Only Updates, (with side or bottom link)

Our Net Zero Centre of Excellence was launched in 2018 as a think tank and accelerator to advance net zero carbon buildings in the UAE as part of its commitment to World Green Building Council’s Advancing Net Zero Project. We invite you to explore our website to see the work we are doing. We have also summarised our objectives and actions in the EmiratesGBC Snapshot.

One Click LCA Planetary

One Click LCA Planetary has been officially launched and is available in nine languages and covers the ten most carbon-intensive and significant materials categories in construction. It provides both materials efficiency and embodied carbon metrics at once. Through our partnership with Bionova Ltd, the One Click LCA Planetary is available for all UAE companies for free!

Embodied Carbon Working Group

We are happy to announce that we have officially launched the Embodied Carbon Working Group. The Working Group will be producing UAE-specific Embodied Carbon information over the next few months. We’ll be sure to keep everyone updated!

This month, we look at the stark 6^th Assessment Report (AR) from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which states that “Human-induced climate change is already affecting many weather and climate extremes in every region across the globe. Evidence of observed changes in extremes such as heatwaves, heavy precipitation, droughts, and tropical cyclones…and their attribution to human influence has strengthened.”

It also states that “If global warming increases, some compound extreme events with the low likelihood in past and current climate will become more frequent, and there will be a higher likelihood that events with increased intensities, durations and/or spatial extents unprecedented in the observational record will occur.”

To read more, click here.

We have opened nominations to fill vacant seats on its Board of Directors for the 2022-2023 term. Accordingly, we are requesting applications from Corporate Members who would like to nominate themselves to serve one of the open board positions. Those interested to apply should submit their nomination to the EmiratesGBC office by noon on Wednesday 29th September 2021 with the following information:

• Your company’s tenure with EmiratesGBC
• Past contribution to EmiratesGBC
• Future commitment to EmiratesGBC
• Statement on how your company will add value to the EmiratesGBC
• Board Profile of company representative and his/her endorsement from company

You can find more information here.

2021 marks the 15^th Anniversary of Emirates Green Building Council. To showcase joint accomplishments of the Council and its members, EmiratesGBC has partnered with Khaleej Times to produce a special supplement marking the 15th Year of EmiratesGBC journey of success.

To celebrate this great event, EmiratesGBC corporate members are invited to publish an article and/or an exceptional advertisement in this supplement for a special price.  The supplement will be distributed by the end of September 2021 along with the newspaper for the entire UAE run and will also be available online.

For more information, please click here to view a supplement that Khaleej Times prepared earlier for EmiratesGBC.

Should you wish to take advantage of this opportunity, please respond to engagement@emiratesgbc.org to register your interest or for further information. The Council will ensure only members who are interested to participate will be contacted by Khaleej Times.

EmiratesGBC hosts multiple events throughout the year in a variety of formats and covering a wide breadth of topics. Drawing on our members’ expertise and knowledge, we curate panel discussions, webinars, presentations and conferences that go beyond the current conversation and discuss the latest innovations and issues in the sector. If you are a member with a story to tell or interested in getting involved through speaking opportunities, please contact us with details of the topic and nominated speaker. EmiratesGBC corporate members can fill out the speakers form and submit to events@emiratesgbc.org.

Please consider supporting our education and technical programs in 2021 by partnering with us and coming on board as a sponsor to one of our knowledge-sharing initiatives. Opportunities range from webinars and workshops on our priority areas such as Net Zero Carbon Buildings, Energy Efficiency, Green Schools, Health & Wellness and Building Retrofit to our flagship Annual Congress and Annual MENA Green Building Awards.

Partnership opportunities are a great way for members to get involved and showcase your organization’s leadership and commitment to sustainable development initiatives. We invite you to find out more – please view our sponsorship packages and contact us to learn more.

EmiratesGBC is pleased to support Retrofit Tech Abu Dhabi Summit which is taking place physically on 7 – 8 September 2021 at the Conrad Abu Dhabi Etihad Towers to bring the top stakeholders across the Retrofitting, Energy Efficiency and Sustainability sectors together.

Some of the key speakers representing Abu Dhabi’s vision and projects include:

• Stephane Le Gentil, Chief Operating Officer & Acting Chief Executive Officer,Abu Dhabi Energy Services (ADES)
• Ramiz Hamdan Ragheb Alaileh, Sustainability & Energy Efficiency Director, Abu Dhabi Department of Energy
• Majid Ideisian, Project Manager – Financial Sustainability and Investment Department, UAEMinistry of Energy and Infrastructure
• David Andrew Dunn, Projects Manager, Municipal Roads and Infrastructure,Abu Dhabi City Municipality
• Mohamed Dawoud, Advisor – Water Resources and Environment Quality,Environment Agency Abu Dhabi

The summit brochure is now available for download. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear from these high-level decision makers on the aspiring visions and latest projects in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, and to see the most innovative technologies and market-leading services across the sector.

EmiratesGBC members can register by emailing us at opportunities@acm-events.com and receive an exclusive discount. Or if you are a non-member register your interest to attend this event.

Keeping in line with Social Distancing guidelines, we will have limited seating and very exclusive complimentary delegate availability. Register your interest now to check your eligibility.