In continuation of its sustainable practices initiatives, American Hospital Dubai further consolidated its commitment to carbon footprint reduction by formally launching its Sustainability Policy. The policy's launch aligns with President His Highness Shaikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan's declaration of 2023 as the Year of Sustainability.
The American Hospital Sustainable Policy is a covenant of governance and impact that systemises its current sustainability practices, integrating performance measurability and accountability to enable it to become the region's leading healthcare model in carbon reduction.
The policy is an allegiance to the UAE, its people, and the planet to optimise the usage and lifecycle of the hospital's resources, innovate sustainable solutions, achieve energy resilience by using clean alternative methods, and empower its employees as active policy practitioners.
The initiative comprises Scope 1 and 2 in Phase One, with Scope 1 covering American Hospital Dubai's direct carbon dioxide emissions, including from its buildings, fleet of ambulances and other facilities and Scope 2 covering its indirect use of energy, such as electricity bills and power required to operate the hospitals and its clinics. Scope 3 will extend the project's objectives, covering all emissions beyond Scope 1 and 2 arising from the company's value chain, such as using and disposing of products purchased from suppliers.
As a leading healthcare provider in the region, American Hospital Dubai's mission is to achieve a demonstrable environmental footprint reduction impact by measuring its CO2 emission and consumption and enhancing community welfare.
The hospital's spectrum of sustainability practices includes energy savings by replacing conventional lighting with light emitting diode (LED), increasing the plantation footprint on-campus, selecting primary diagnostic modalities that are more energy-efficient and rely on air-cooling versus water cooling, fuel emissions reduction, medical waste management, e-recycling, use of eco-friendly building materials, environmentally friendly cleaning solutions, improving indoor air quality, minimising energy consumption to maintain room ambience temperature by controlling the cooled air flow instead of heating the already cooled air, in addition to farm-to-plate food practices, which have helped it achieve significant results in carbon reduction.
Moreover, the hospital is in a transitional phase towards a 100 per cent paperless environment for staff and patients and a gradual reduction of plastics; a water dispenser has been installed in each building, encouraging occupants to fill their reusable bottles.
The hospital reduced its Energy Use Intensity (EUI) from 47 in 2020 to 34 in 2022, achieving 20,384,129 kWh (kilowatt-hours) savings, conserving 2,176 gallons of water daily with touchless faucets and 21,900 litres annually with dual-flush WCs.
It recycled 3,653 metric tonnes (MT) of CO2 emissions from waste and 2,145 MT of CO2 from cars annually, planted equivalent to 1 acre of forest cover by greening its premises, and grew 261,359 trees from seedlings over 10 years.
The hospital's recycled material usage includes carpets made from partly recycled raw materials, phthalate-free vinyl flooring for reduced water usage cleaning, chairs made of 50 per cent recycled ocean-bound plastic and polyester pads or 100 cent urethane foam, and the use of green cleaning solutions across the premises.
Welcoming the formal launch of the Sustainable Policy, Sherif Beshara, Group CEO of American Hospital, said, "We are proud to announce the American Hospital Sustainable Policy, in synergy with 2023 as the Year of Sustainability announced by the UAE President His Highness Shaikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan. We are fully committed to helping the UAE meet its sustainability objectives, and our Sustainability Policy is a culmination of our efforts over the years to integrate it with our mission, vision, and values.
"At American Hospital Dubai, our definition of progress is synonymous with eco-consciousness, and we will continue to perform to the highest sustainability standards to contribute to improving humanity's future."
