Green Middle East 2015 to set new benchmarks in sustainability

Expo Centre Sharjah will host the Green Middle East 2015 exhibition in December 2015 under the patronage of the Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, H.H. Dr. Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, details of which were announced at a press conference held at the Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry this month.

The press conference was chaired by Saif Mohammed Al Midfa - CEO of Expo Centre Sharjah, Dr. Eng. Rashid Obaid Juma Al Leem - Chairman of Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority (SEWA), Eng. Hassan Al Taffaq - Assistant Director-General for Agriculture and Environment from Sharjah Municipality, Khalid Al Huraimel - Group CEO of Bee’ah, and Prof. Dr. Sabah Al Kass - Dean of College of Engineering, University of Sharjah.

Green Middle East 2015, the region’s leading environmental management and technology exhibition will be a carbon-neutral event, focusing primarily on topics such as Renewable Energy, Water & Waste Water, Waste & Recycling, Green Buildings and Environment Awareness. Apart from the core exhibition, the event will also host a conference element, a dinner and an awards ceremony to follow. Aside from the conference providing a knowledge sharing platform for audiences to question and debate environmental issues and concerns, the Green Middle East Awards for Environmental Excellence is also being held to recognise and honour individuals and organisations in private and public sectors, who have demonstrated exemplary leadership and innovation in sustainability.

Strategic partners work together
The Green Middle East 2015 event will be the first of its kind green event in the Middle East and will see key strategic partners join hands for a greener, more sustainable country and at large, the region.
The event, a traditional B2B event, will now have only 70% B2B elements while 30% will be B2C to promote eco-friendly products and services to consumers to increase awareness, inform them about new areas of consumer wastage, energy savings and help promote a green society.

According to Saif Mohammed Al Midfa - CEO of Expo Centre Sharjah: "My dream is to see Sharjah as a true regional player for the Middle East region in this genre. We have started doing effective waste management campaigns through our strategic partner Bee'ah, which is targeting zero landfill and zero wastage in the emirate by end of 2015. Green Middle East in its fourth year is planning to host 120 companies and entertain 5,000 customers, trade and otherwise, 35 percent more than last time."

He added: "Our alliance with Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority (SEWA) and Sharjah Municipality is a ringing bell, to send a message that we are on the right track and mean business."

Mr. Saif Mohammed Al Midfa , CEO of Expo Centre Sharjah

Mr. Midfa said that via such conferences and exhibitions, he wishes to help create a proper healthy environment to live and educate consumers to become a part of it. Citing consumer awareness as a huge challenge, he confirmed that many users today consider eco-friendly products expensive but fail to see the long-term benefits of deploying them. Also high cost of alternative energy products acts as a huge deterrent. He said that as few governments in the West offer subsidies to encourage alternative energy products, the local government is also looking to subsidise some of the eco-friendly tools but as competition grows in this sector, prices will eventually ease.

He concluded: "We invite and welcome any and all local or international players operating in the renewable energy, waste management and green services sector to join us for the fourth edition of the Green Middle East event. This platform will help liaise operators with local governmental authorities, encourage them to launch new initiatives, discover new landscapes and will help create new strategic alliances."

Raising awareness on the value of conservation
Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, hosting the press conference, led by example by replacing regular lights with LED lights, resulting in substantial savings as well as availing energy-efficient options. Dr. Eng. Rashid Obaid Juma Al Leem - Chairman of Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority said that Sharjah is trying to distinguish itself in an actionable, logical way and while conservation target within the emirate is 30%, the authorities are trying to educate people that if they follow basic principles of conservation, they can reduce 30% of their utility bills, too. Currently, GCC has green projects worth $4.5 billion in the region.

The Green Building Council (GBC), a US-based industry body promoting cost-efficient and energy saving buildings ranked UAE ninth among top ten nations with the biggest energy-efficient buildings outside the US. UAE has currently ten times the number of LEED-registered projects than Singapore based on the current projects. UAE is also expected to issue the world’s first ever Sharia-compliant bond to fund renewable energy projects. The World Bank defines green bonds as “fixed income, liquid financial instruments that are used to raise funds dedicated to climate change mitigation, adaptation and other environmentally friendly projects.”

According to a report issued by Ventures Middle East, there are a lot of opportunities across the GCC region for suppliers of energy saving and green products, including lighting, kitchen and bathroom fittings and natural stone fittings. Green rating systems have been introduced in all GCC countries: LEED (USA), BREEAM(UK) are used by many developers and each country is adopting its own standards. In 2013, there were 1,236 LEED-rated projects in the GCC, with UAE netting 67%. Qatar came second with 16 percent, hosting 190 projects, Saudi Arabia had 158 projects with 13% and Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman had 51 LEED-rated projects collectively, accounting for around 4%.