Abu Dhabi - The newly formed Dutch Sustainability Group (DSG) signed a Memorandum of Understanding to jointly help the UAE achieve its Sustainable Development Goals. The Memorandum was signed at the backdrop of the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ADSW) Tuesday in the presence of his Excellency Thani Ahmed Alzeyoudi, the UAE’s Minister of Climate Change and Environment.

By Arthur Blok

The new group was formed under the umbrella of the Netherlands Business Council (NBC) and supported by the Embassy and Consulate-General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. This first of its kind, this initiative brings together expertise from a wide variety of sectors to deliver sustainability projects in the UAE.

Chairman of the NBC Dubai, Stefanie Schachtschabel, emphasized the uniqueness of the initiative where a group was formed under the umbrella of the NBC and supported by both the Embassy and Consulate-General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to jointly support the UAE achieving its Sustainable Development Goals.

The DSG consists of companies that all have their origins in the Netherlands, a country known for its innovative power and know-how on Sustainability. DSG members include Unilever Gulf, Signify, ING Bank, Royal Haskoning DHV, Air France-KLM, Albwardy Damen, Royal BAM, LeasePlan, FrieslandCampina, Boskalis, Vopak and Van Oord.

“It is all about our future generations living in the UAE, in The Netherlands and all over the world. This initiative is about sustainable development that meets current needs without compromising the ability of future generations anywhere else to meet their own”, said Schachtschabel.

Three pillars

Guided by DSG’s mission statement: ‘Delivering Dutch Sustainability & Innovations to the Middle East’ it has formulated three pillars based on which it will develop projects. The first pillar is about ‘Education and Communication’, for example with workshops from all industry sectors on schools and training at companies.

The second pillar in the MOU will turn around ‘Thought Leadership activities’ in order to demonstrate how innovations and new business models can lead to a more sustainable world. The third pillar aims to provide training and knowledge transfer to government entities in the country to support decision making on their sustainability targets.

Based on these pillars the member companies envision working together to deliver sustainability projects in the UAE. Schachtschabel: “I believe in the ‘can-do’ mentality of the UAE, and the ‘can-do’ mentality of the Dutch. We will not only talk, we will deliver.”