DEWA, Unilever to come together to reduce Dubai’s carbon footprint

The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, DEWA, has signed an agreement with Unilever to sell 20,757 of its International Renewable Energy Certificates, i-REC, to the company, emphasising DEWA’s commitment to the environment and encouraging the use of clean energy.

The agreement, which was facilitated by the Dubai Investment Development Agency (Dubai FDI), supports Unilever Middle East’s strategy to become carbon-neutral in all its operations by 2030.

One i-REC is equivalent to one megawatt-hour of electricity. Once energy companies acquire i-RECs, they can sell them to organisations that wish to secure renewable energy to power their operations.

With the purchase of i-RECs from DEWA, Unilever Middle East will be able to cover 100 percent of the energy consumption requirement of two of its key manufacturing sites, the Personal Care Factory in Dubai Investment Park and the Lipton Factory in Jebel Ali, as well as its headquarters that covers the Middle East and North Africa, avoiding 9,116 tonnes of CO2 emissions.

“At DEWA, we work in line with the vision and directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, to transform Dubai into a global hub for clean energy and green economy. We also support the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050, which aims to provide 75 percent of Dubai’s total power output from clean energy sources by 2050 and make Dubai the city with the lowest carbon footprint in the world. We also work to achieve the Demand Side Management Strategy, which was launched by the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy to reduce energy and water demand by 30 percent by 2030,” said Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of the DEWA.

“We are committed to ensuring that our UAE offices and manufacturing sites transition 100 percent of their electricity requirements to clean energy. This is part of our ambition of becoming carbon neutral by 2030 by eliminating fossil fuels from our operations and directly supporting the generation of more renewable energy than we consume,” said Cem Tarık Yüksel, Managing Director of Unilever Gulf.

“Through our dedicated Investor Aftercare Programme, Dubai FDI was able to facilitate Unilever’s ambitions and connect Unilever with DEWA, thus accomplishing an exemplary investment project aligned with the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, that every investment in the development of clean energy sources is at the same time an investment to protect the environment for future generations,” said Fahad Al Gergawi, CEO of Dubai FDI.