Aligned with the Year of Sustainability, Abu Dhabi City Municipality, through its City Planning Sector's Environment, Health, and Safety Department, organized a specialized workshop focused on creating and executing a sustainability report. The event took place at the Municipal Council Hall within the main municipal building, as well as virtually via a technical platform, to ensure maximum participation from municipal staff. The primary goal was to equip municipal employees with the knowledge and skills needed for generating and carrying out a comprehensive sustainability report, in addition to revisiting the municipality's sustainability goals and existing reports.
Co-hosted with Jumeirah Engineering Consultants, the workshop covered the fundamentals of sustainability, including its various dimensions (social, economic, environmental) and global sustainability objectives. The significance of these goals for future generations, their beneficial impacts, and pathways to achieve them were also highlighted.
Discussions extended to the relevance of sustainability to the United Arab Emirates, its bearing on individuals and institutions, and a review of the nation's initiatives in the sustainability sector. An overview of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards was also presented, along with key takeaways and advantages of having a well-crafted sustainability report, supported by case examples.
Further, the workshop elaborated on the core elements of sustainability, namely environment, society, and economy, tying them into the UAE's broader sustainability strategy. Detailed explanations of the 17 global sustainability goals were provided, along with guidelines on the prerequisites for a comprehensive sustainability report, strategies for writing and implementing such a report, and an assessment of Abu Dhabi City Municipality's own sustainability report and objectives.