Dubai, UAE, 14 January 2018: Emaar Hospitality Group, the hospitality and leisure business of Emaar Properties, and Rove Hotels, a joint venture of Meraas Holding and Emaar Properties, have joined hands with the Emirates Green Building Council (EmiratesGBC), to attain ‘Green Key’ certification for their operational hotels and leisure assets in Dubai.

EmiratesGBC is the UAE’s National Operator for the ‘Green Key’ certification, a standard of excellence in the field of environmental sustainability and sustainable operation within the tourism industry. The agreement was signed by Olivier Harnisch, CEO, Emaar Hospitality Group, and Saeed Al Abbar, Chairman, EmiratesGBC.

Initially, Emaar and Rove aim to have 15 hospitality and leisure assets in Dubai ‘Green Key’ certified. These will include all operational hotels under the three lifestyle hotel brands under Emaar Hospitality Group and Emaar Leisure Group assets, such as Arabian Ranches Golf Club and Dubai Polo & Equestrian Club, in addition to all Rove hotels.

Harnisch said: “Across our hotels and leisure assets, we have an abiding commitment to uphold the highest standards of energy and water use efficiency as well as environmental best practices. These properties have already launched in-house green practices and have dedicated teams supporting the mission to ‘go green’, in line with the UAE Green Agenda and the Dubai Plan 2021. The ‘Green Key’ certification will be a crowning glory that will highlight our environmental stewardship and focus on sustainable development for a greener tourism industry.”

Al Abbar added: “As the National Operator of the Green Key certification, we have been working closely with the UAE’s hospitality industry to promote environmental best practices. Having earlier undertaken a green hotel benchmarking programme, we fully understand the requirements and aspirations of the hospitality operators. Emaar Hospitality Group and Rove Hotels are world-class UAE hospitality operators, and through the agreement, we will support them in driving and setting sustainability standards that will serve as a model for the industry.”

Created in 1994 in Denmark and internationally operated by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) since 2002, the ‘Green Key’ certification is being operated by EmiratesGBC in the UAE since 2013. To date, over 30 hotels in the UAE have been ‘Green Key’ certified, with significant growing interest from other industry stakeholders.

Supported by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UN WTO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), ‘Green Key’ is reportedly the largest global ecolabel operating in 56 countries, and operates as a non-governmental, non-commercial and independent programme. Securing the ‘Green Key’ certification adds value of the hotels and properties and serves as a mark of international recognition of environmental responsibility.

Emaar and Rove will receive the certification after due diligence by EmiratesGBC, ensuring that all assets uphold the international criteria of ‘Green Key’, covering areas such as environmental management, staff involvement, guest information, water usage, washing and cleaning, waste management, energy use efficiency, food & beverage handling, quality of indoor environment, green areas and green activities, as part of Emaar Hospitality Group’s corporate social responsibility.

Complementing the Green Key programme, EmiratesGBC also conducts the Energy & Water Benchmarking for UAE hotels that documents energy and water consumption and outlines the potential for savings, thus contributing to reduced carbon footprint by UAE hotels. As part of the first benchmarking exercise, 46 hotels that volunteered for the programme were benchmarked. EmiratesGBC is now inviting hotels in the UAE to take part in the 2018 Building Efficiency Accelerator, another free-of-cost benchmarking programme