Dubai, United Arab Emirates
UAE-headquartered hospitality company TIME Hotels will unveil its latest strategic initiatives to drive positive outcomes for climate action to visiting delegates participating in COP28 UAE, between 30 November and 12 December.
So far, more than 50 rooms have been reserved for four groups of delegates coming from the Pacific & Oceana region, Asia, Italy and the UK. The delegates will be participating at COP28 to develop their capacity in environmental governance; policy development; planning, monitoring, and reporting for sustainable environmental outcomes and to keep pace with socio-economic development. In addition to that is to promote the integration of climate change adaptation and disaster risk management through capacity building, within an ecosystem-based approach.
TIME Hotels, which has a very impressive environmental track record going back well over a decade, will also showcase its sustainable operational practices – room set ups, bathroom and guest amenities and sustainable F&B options.
“We will be asking delegates for an interview about their opinion on our initiatives and ask for their advice on what else TIME, as well as other companies operating in the hospitality sector, can do to reduce their impact on the environment,” said Mohamed Awadalla, CEO TIME Hotels.
“Depending on their approval, videos will be posted onto our social media platforms to inform guests as well as our peers, how through simple and inexpensive changes, we can collectively make a real difference, as the UAE’s plans for net zero emissions begin to take shape,” he added.
One recent initiative was TIME’s participation in the 2023 Arabian Travel Market, exhibition in May. TIME’s exhibition stand was made from recycled materials, with the structure painted with biodegradable paint – a more eco-friendly alternative to toxin-based paints which take longer to break down. LED lighting illuminates the stand, which is more energy efficient and has a longer life span. To further minimise its carbon footprint, all materials required to construct the stand were delivered to the venue in a single trip.
“The stand will be reused at future events for the next three years and materials will be stored in a sustainably run warehouse. Any materials that are not able to be reused will be taken to licensed recycling centres so that their journey can continue elsewhere,” commented Awadalla.
Other recent initiatives include the installation of Electric Vehicle (EV) chargers at two of its Dubai properties, joining a ‘Recycle, Reforest, Repeat’ initiative with the Emirates Environmental Group (EEG), implementing several environmental policies over the past 12 months, such as tracking the amount of gasoline, diesel and LPG consumed to monitor and ultimately reduce its carbon footprint.
TIME also has a strict policy of sourcing from local suppliers, to reduce its Scope 3 indirect carbon emissions and contribute to the local economy. It has also successfully eliminated all single-use plastics, guest and bathroom amenities are all biodegradable, in addition to introducing biodegradable bottled water, right across its operations.
