The UAE’s Founding Father, the late Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, united the federation behind his vision of protecting the earth’s resources, taking only what we needed, and preserving the rest for future generations.

His vision is alive and well today across the UAE as we find new avenues and new technologies to conserve energy and water. Abu Dhabi is developing a city powered by renewable energy. Dubai is constructing a solar park that has already started feeding green energy to the grid. Ras Al Khaimah is building a large solar power and desalination plant. And the World Expo 2020 is encouraging investment in the emirates under the leading theme of sustainability.

Today, sustainability is more than just a buzzword. It is rapidly becoming a way of life that is not only necessary for future growth and development but good for business, particularly here in the GCC. The region has historically relied on fossil fuels not only as an export commodity, but also for its own energy needs. Our vehicles burn petrol and natural gas provides us with electricity for air-conditioning and other requirements, such as desalinating water.

But as demand continues to rise with an ever-burgeoning population, so too does the need to find alternative ways of using and conserving limited resources. All of the UAE supported the World Expo 2020 and its sustainability theme because it will bring new economic energy and development to the country. It also refocuses our attention on the founding leader’s vision.

For example, less than an hour’s drive north of Dubai, under the vision of His Highness Shaikh Saud Bin Saqr Al Qasimi, a Member of the Supreme Council of the UAE and the Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah, sustainability is a driving force for the RAK economy.

Utico Middle East, a Ras Al Khaimah Free Trade Zone client, is taking bids for a solar power and desalination plant. The plant would generate 40MW of solar power, and produce 22 million gallons of potable water per day. The project will reduce the consumption of natural gas, which has been cited as a contributor to climate change. The plant is also expected to reduce the cost of utilities.

Under the guidance of Shaikh Ahmad Saqr Mohammad Al Qasimi, chairman of RAK FTZ, the free zone is encouraging all of its business clients and employees to operate sustainably. The RAK FTZ is the first government organisation of its kind to implement a rigorous environment, health and safety (EHS) programme designed to ensure that staff and clients adhere to the highest international standards for energy and water conservation.

In 2009, RAK FTZ launched a comprehensive recycling system that included the installation of recycling stations across all its business parks. It organised an Environmental Performance Card seminar for its Industrial Park clients in partnership with the UAE Ministry of Environment and Water. Additionally, it implemented an EHS penalty system to monitor the environmental impact of all RAK FTZ-based companies.

RAK FTZ also sponsored a save-electricity competition that encouraged clients to cut back on energy usage, including installing water and energy-saving technology, planting trees and encouraging renewable energy companies to join as clients.

In recognition, the free zone last year received the prestigious Environment Protection and Development Authority (EPDA) award for the Best Environmental Practices in Ras Al Khaimah.

The RAK FTZ continues to actively encourage investors to come to the free zone not only for its services, world-class facilities, tax-free status and cost-effective business set-up solutions, but also because the free zone recognises that a company must be economically sustainable, as well as environmentally responsible, and that these two objectives go hand in hand: saving energy and water saves money and maximises profits.

As the world’s population expands and the demand for earth’s limited resources increases, companies must become increasingly more environmentally responsible. As Shaikh Zayed urged us to do so many years ago, and as the Expo 2020 theme highlights for us today and in the future, we must carefully watch our impact on the planet at the same time that we look out for the bottom line.

— The writer is senior economic adviser to the Ras Al Khaimah Government and the CEO of Ras Al Khaimah Free Trade Zone Authority.