Dubai’s carbon calculator tool a boost to green tourism drive
The Dubai tourism ministry has relaunched its carbon calculator tool, enabling businesses in the hospitality sector to measure their carbon footprints.
The tool – launched by the Department of Economy and Tourism (DET) as part of the Dubai Sustainable Tourism (DST) initiative – will track real-time data for carbon emission sources, allowing hotels to identify and effectively manage their energy consumption.
First launched in January 2017, the carbon calculator has been measuring the carbon footprint of hotels across the emirate.
Once a month hotels are required to submit their consumption of nine carbon emission sources, including electricity, water, cooling, liquefied petroleum gas, landfill waste, recycled waste, petrol, diesel and refrigerants.
The collective data is analysed to calculate the industry’s collective carbon footprint. The information also helps hotels to understand their energy, water and waste consumption and identify cost-saving opportunities.
Sustainability Requirements in Dubai
The information helps hotels and resorts manage their carbon footprint in line with the sector’s 19 sustainability requirements, including sustainable management approaches; performance metrics; energy, food and water management plans; guest education; and employee training initiatives.
Yousuf Lootah, Acting CEO of Corporate Strategy and Performance sector, DET, said: “As DET continually strives to further enhance its services to stakeholders and partners, the revamped carbon calculator will provide hotels with a user-friendly experience and enable hotels to make informed decisions.
“By keeping track of their energy consumption, the data provides a baseline for DET to develop strategies for the sector so that hotels and resorts can effectively manage impact, improve the efficiency of managing carbon resources and identify potential saving opportunities.
“In addition to supporting hotels and resorts within the city’s tourism ecosystem, this initiative has a larger goal: creating a city that is the world’s most visited and the best place to live and work in.”
In another green initiative, the Dubai College of Tourism (DCT) and DST have upgraded the ‘Dubai Sustainable Tourism’ course available on its learning platform. The course offers a broad range of educational programmes for people employed in tourism roles.
The new module includes educational segments focused on the carbon calculator, water and energy saving, how to establish a ‘Green Team’ and implement green procurement strategies.
A new digital platform to boost tax authority’s performance
The UAE’s Federal Tax Authority (FTA) has launched its digital innovation platform named ‘Tax 10’, designed to strengthen and encourage innovation, excellence and professional creativity among its employees.
The tax authority said Tax 10 will “upgrade services, drive sustainable development, enhance corporate and individual performance, and promote a culture of innovation”.
The FTA said that the new platform “was built to incorporate the latest technologies and smart programs used in the field, in an effort to create a framework that encourages the active participation its employees in designing and developing future tax initiatives, or projects in other areas related to the Authority’s operational and service systems”.
The Tax 10 platform was launched at a special event by the Director-General of FTA, Khalid Ali Al Bustani, where he introduced the new platform, its contents, procedures and the incentives it offers to innovative employees.
The event also highlighted the Authority’s innovation roadmap, and ways for FTA employees to effectively participate in future innovation plans in order to keep pace with the rapid technological development in the tax field.
Al Bustani said the Tax 10 digital platform would support the FTA’s strategy “to accelerate its innovation and digital transformation by promoting and adopting the best and most advanced international practices in the field of taxation and financial services”.
He said the new platform was the first of its kind in the region, and it would help ensure sustainable financial diversification for the UAE.
