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“His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the President of the UAE, has a strong vision for our country that will lead us to a more sustainable future. Under his guidance, our nation has achieved many world firsts, including the adoption of a long term national initiative that will lead us to become more environmentally-conscious. The inauguration of Shams 1 is a strong step towards our greener future, and I offer my congratulations, on behalf of all my colleagues at du, to the leadership and the people of the UAE on this momentous occasion,” said Osman Sultan, CEO,du.

He continued: “du has long been a proud supporter of the UAE’s vision to achieve sustainability, which is incorporated into our company philosophy as a key pillar. We are committed to upholding our leadership’s vision and to promoting sustainability practices in the UAE. The UAE is establishing itself as a leader in sustainability, and we are proud to do our part to cement this status for our nation.”

In its recognition of the need to be a responsible company, du has demonstrated exemplary practices in both corporate governance and sustainability throughout its operations. These leading practices earned the telecom the position as the most compliant company in the MENA region in the Standard & Poor/Hawkamah Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) Index 2011, and the prestigious 2012 Corporate Governance Award from UK’s World Finance magazine.

The telecom encourages the development of innovative and viable sustainable practices to conserve energy, and actively seeks to employ systems into its operations that contribute towards a greener future for the UAE.

du’s many implemented sustainability initiatives include, amongst others:

· Hybrid power solutions at base station sites
In line with the UAE Governments strategy towards sustainable energy and with the objective to reduce the diesel consumption and CO2 emission by 50%, du has decided to convert all possible off-grid sites to smart hybrid sites by deploying hybrid solution which in this case involves deep cycling batteries and the smart Energy Manager which cycles the site’s load between generator and batteries thus reducing the run time of the generator significantly. 137 sites were converted to hybrid power solution as of today. As a result:

o This has led so far to 50% less fuel being consumed, and therefore 50% fewer CO2 emissions;
o Around 1.3M litres of diesel fuel has been saved, which equates to a reduction of 3,300 tonnes of CO2 emissions up
o Decrease in generator runtime by 70%, meaning less air and noise pollution.

By the end of 2014, du intends to have increased the number of sites using these solutions to 250 across the UAE, with an anticipated saving of 5 million litres of diesel, and consequent reduction of carbon emissions by 12,000 tonnes.

· Increasing Temperature inside BTS shelters
In another initiative and part of “du green initiatives”, du technology team had increased the temperature set point inside over 2000 BTS sites resulting in 3% energy saving.

· LEED Platinum-certified Green shop in Fujairah City Centre

du’s newest Shop in Fujairah has received the highest LEED rating, Platinum, for its green solutions. These include:

o All lights and air conditioning controlled by sensors to reduce energy consumption;
o Energy star rating on all equipment;
o All wood used in the Shop is Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-approved;
o 92% of construction waste was diverted from landfill;
o 42% of furniture and furnishings used in the store are up-cycled;
o Lighting power is reduced by 41%, in comparison to average power;
o 24.5% of materials used in the project were recycled;
o 28.5% of materials used in the project were sourced from within 500 miles of the location;
o 30% more ventilation ensures constant fresh air.

The telecom plans to roll out more green Shops in the future.

· Recycling
du’s efforts to recycle were up by 36% in 2012, meaning more paper waste, cardboard and plastics sent for recycling. The telco achieved its target to recycle at least 50% of paper waste produced.

· Saving power
The implementation of LED lights in du’s Fujairah Contact Centre has reduced lighting power consumption by 53%, in comparison to conventional lights.