One of the world leaders I admire is His Excellency Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, the fourth prime minister of Malaysia, for his great efforts in creating a better world and his contributions toward preserving the environment and maintaining the greenery and landscape of Malaysia for so many years. I was overwhelmed when I was recognized and appreciated by him back in 2011 as an environmentalist during the GCC Malaysia trade summit in Kuala Lumpur.
In my recent official visit to Singapore, I had the chance of going around the city and seeing the great effort undertaken by the officials to find the right balance between city development and environmental conservation. It is a story that deserves to be shared.
The land-scarce Garden City, Singapore, is indeed fortunate to have many green spaces where people can come close to nature and soak up its beauty and tranquillity. This has not come about by chance. The continued enjoyment of nature in the midst of urban living is made possible by the intelligent and creative management and preservation of the precious natural heritage by the National Parks Board and the efforts of many nature champions in the community who care for the environment; one of them is HSBC, who joined in the collective effort of caring for the environment and promoting nature awareness and conservation in Pulau Ubin Island.
Their sponsorship, as well as their other facilities on Pulau Ubin, is their expression of commitment to efforts to conserve Pulau Ubin and, in particular, Chek Jawa for the benefit of the future generation.
Companies these days are promoting the “go green” theory because of the direct pressures from the natural world, such as water crisis, climate change, and many more. Increases in resource costs and the government’s tightening of standards are changing the strategic priorities of the people. A growing number of stakeholders, communities, employees, and customers care about climate change and other environmental problems. The following are some interesting stories.
One of the old stories I remember is the “Sony PlayStation story” of Christmas 2001 when the Dutch government blocked PlayStation from being sold in the country. The media reported, “Christmas 2001 was very expensive as the Dutch government blocked 1.3 million boxes of the PlayStation console because the toxic element cadmium was found in the cables of the game controllers. In light of this, Sony rushed for replacements, and an 18-month search, which included 6,000 factories, resulted in a new supplier management system. The total cost of this problem was around $130 million. This was a huge amount and became an expensive Christmas celebration for Sony.”
July 21, 2017, many news agencies like—Business Live, and Express; stated that the German luxury car maker Audi, a Volkswagen subsidiary, issued a voluntary recall of up to 850,000 diesel vehicles with the aim to reduce engine emissions.
Vehicles with certain engines were to receive a free software upgrade that “will further improve their emissions in real driving conditions beyond the current legal requirements,” Audi added.
The recall affected cars fitted with sixand eight-cylinder diesel motors meeting the Euro 5 and 6 emission criteria, including some from the parent Volkswagen and the sister firm Porsche, which are fitted with Audi engines. It developed the offer “in close cooperation” with Germany’s Federal Motor Transport Authority, or KBA, it added.
Audi’s recall came days after Mercedes-Benz and Smart maker Daimler issuing a voluntary recall of more than 3 million diesel vehicles in Europe.
Pressure on car manufacturers in Germany and elsewhere has been growing steadily since Volkswagen’s admission in 2015 that it installed systems in 11 million diesel-fueled cars worldwide to defeat regulatory emission tests.
Yves Rocher is a worldwide cosmetics and beauty brand founded in 1959 by the French entrepreneur Yves Rocher. The company made an appeal to defend biodiversity, working under the campaign headed by the United Nations Environment Program “Plant for the planet 1 billion trees.” Yves Rocher committed to plant 50 million trees between 2010 and 2015. Well, I must say that this was a wonderful approach towards a sustainable environment and a better planet to live in.
Many global research studies conducted by reputed R&D centers found out that applying a green lens reduces the energy consumption of direct operations by 20 percent; it reduces CO2 emissions by 20 percent, reduces waste output by 20 percent, and reduces water consumption by 10 percent.
Dell has a very good strategy for its Software and Environmental Cleanup Project. For roughly $25 per piece, Dell will come to you to take your used computers away. There are a few wonderful steps that they take. First is the “destructive data overwrite,” which they do to eliminate all digital information on the computer, and then they dismantle the machine.
Dell refurbishes and reuses some parts and recycles the plastics. In the end, just 1 percent of the old computer’s volume goes to the landfill. WOW! This is a truly effective strategy that other computer manufacturers can follow. So far, I recognize that if you value green strategies, it will have a positive impact on your efficiency and profitability! Let me share one of my recent green strategies with you:
SEWA is continuously upgrading its services to increase efficiency and customer satisfaction. Starting on January 1, 2017, SEWA stopped sending paper bills, issuing electronic ones (via SMS and e-mail) instead with the slogan “My bill is environmentally friendly,” which aims to push forward the UAE’s development in digital transformation to provide easier services in line with international standards. Also, the SEWA Green Bill intends to achieve sustainable development for future generations.
Currently, SEWA has 450,000 customers, which means that 450,000 pieces of paper are used for printing utility bills every month. As a result, the organization decided to stop sending paper bills and move to digitization. Seeing such an excessive use of paper every month, SEWA also decided to give back to the environment by planting 600 Prosopis cineraria trees across Sharjah.
Prosopis cineraria trees (or ghaf in Arabic) were chosen as it is an important part of the heritage of the UAE. The trees were used as a source of food, as well as to feed and give shade to animals during hot summer days. The ghaf is one of the most important feed species for desert livestock, contributing a major portion of their feed requirements.
In November 2017, during my monthly progress meeting, I announced that we will create a mini-forest comprising 600 trees to encourage and engage the employees to leave a legacy by planting trees. Each tree will carry the name of the employee who has helped save the environment in one way or other.
The Global Sustainability Assessment System (GSAS), originally named as QSAS, is a green building certification system developed for Gulf Cooperation Council countries. This system was announced after QSAS (Qatar Sustainability Assessment System) was accepted by a number of GCC countries. Hence, the local system of QSAS was expanded to a regional scale and renamed GSAS.
GSAS was established in 2009 as a nonprofit organization by the Gulf Organization for Research and Development (GORD) in collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania in the USA. The system considered well-known international green building codes, applied expert composition, and made some modifications to suit the Gulf Cooperation Council countries’ climate and traditions. Subsequently, the system was recently adopted by the State of Kuwait and the Saudi Green Building Council.
Some of the good goals GASA is working hard to achieve are to lower operating costs, increase asset value, reduce waste sent to landfills, conserve energy and water, and promote a healthier and safer environment for occupants.
GORD Institute’s Center of Excellence runs multidisciplinary scientific research programs through its own resources as well as its partnerships with local and international institutions. The aim is to foster innovation, advance knowledge, share experiences, and build networks to enhance the sustainable built environment.
GORD Institute’s research activities are inspired by the development of GSAS. The themes of research projects include carbon and climate change; eco-materials; energy efficiency; environmental sciences; heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) solutions; renewable energy, and water resources and technologies.
This is one of the good programs CNN produces, encouraging individuals and organizations worldwide to protect the environment and be engaged. According to a recent CNN report, almost 7.5 billion people share our planet, so it is time to think about how to deal with environmental challenges. One of the companies that CNN is featuring very frequently regarding this issue is Eco Solutions. Every month, the company meets the people who are looking for solutions to some of our green problems. While browsing the CNN website, I found a number of pressing topics that Eco Solutions is dealing with, such as Why is the meat key in the climate change fight? Should I drink bottled water? Can a country run entirely on renewable energy?
HP produces low-carbon solutions and energy-efficient products, using safer materials and greener packaging to lower customers’ environmental footprints. HP’s design leadership and technical innovations in reducing the environmental impact of technology have been widely recognized.
Established in 1995, Suzlon Energy Ltd. is present in 19 countries across six continents. They are one of the leading renewable energy solution providers in the world and have installed around 15.5 GW of wind energy capacity globally. With a support network of over 8,000 employees of diverse nationalities, they house one of the largest in-house research and development setups with facilities in Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, and India.
Suzlon Group is embarking on a global multiplatform sponsorship of Eco Solutions. “Delivering global insights into smart ecological innovations, Eco Solutions is an ideal property to align with Suzlon Group to raise awareness of its brand and core business activities amongst an engaged and relevant global audience. This campaign is specifically designed for Suzlon Group to harness both the scale and precise targeting of CNN’s TV and digital platforms to reach the affluent CNN audience of business decision makers, policy makers, and C-suites,” said Sunita Rajan, AdSales vice president, Asia-Pacific, CNN International.
I thank them for being so innovative in their ideas. I am sure this will bring massive changes in people’s perception of the green planet.
The Environment Public Authority in Kuwait has launched its electronic site, which aims to promote cooperation among organizations (the public and the private sector, as well as individuals: citizens, expats, business people, visitors). It also aims to provide efficient electronic services that are compatible with daily life requirements.
The Environment Public Authority is a public judicial authority and has an allocated budget for the general control of environment affairs in the state, and is affiliated with the council of ministers under the supervision of the Supreme Council for Environment.
The authority is concerned with undertaking all works and tasks to protect the environment in the country, especially the following:
One of my friends from Delhi told me about the pollution in the city; it can sometimes appear as if fresh air does not exist there anymore. International news agencies said that India’s capital is choking under off-the-charts smog, with some parts of the city reporting pollution levels almost five times higher than what is considered “unhealthy” by the US Environmental Protection Agency.
On November 7, 2016, measurements taken at the US Embassy in Delhi rated the city’s air quality index at 999, which is off the standard chart that rates the maximum “hazardous” level at 500.
Delhi’s battle against air pollution started in 2001, when India’s Supreme Court was appalled by the living conditions in the city. The court ordered public buses, taxis, and auto-rickshaws to switch from diesel power to compressed natural gas. The actions enforced by the Supreme Court, combined with new fuel standards, greatly improved the air quality in the city at that time; but it did not last long because now the trend has been reversed.
New Delhi is a sprawling metropolis, and the lack of efficient public transportation has fueled an explosion of cars. The city has 9 million vehicles, and new cars are being registered at a rate of 1,400 per day. To reduce the pollution, the Delhi government proposed the odd-even rule, wherein cars with odd-numbered registration plates would run on odd dates and those with even-numbered registration plates would do so on even dates. The idea is to reduce both congestion and pollution resulting from vehicular emissions.
The ozone layer, a belt of the naturally-occurring “ozone” gas, is 15 to 30 kilometers above the earth and serves as a shield from the harmful ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation emitted by the sun. Today, there is widespread concern that the ozone layer is deteriorating because of the release of pollution containing the chemicals chlorine and bromine. Such deterioration allows large amounts of ultraviolet B rays to reach the earth, which can cause skin cancer and cataracts in humans as well as causing harm to animals. Many countries are taking steps to control this deterioration and restore the thick protective layer. The Montreal Protocol, which I mention briefly below, is one of the most effective steps taken so far to address this environmental issue.
The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer was agreed on September 16, 1987, and entered into force on January 1, 1989. It aims to reduce the production and consumption of ozone-depleting substances in order to reduce their abundance in the atmosphere, and thereby protect the earth’s fragile ozone layer. Because of its widespread adoption and implementation, it is often called the most successful international environmental agreement to date. Kofi Annan, a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations and a Nobel Prize winner, was quoted as saying that “perhaps the single most successful international agreement to date has been the Montreal Protocol.”
The 2006 scientific evaluation of the effects of the Montreal Protocol states, “The Montreal Protocol is working: there is clear evidence of a decrease in the atmospheric burden o