DUBAL participates in Earth Hour for fourth time

A concerned and responsible corporate citizen, Dubai Aluminium (DUBAL), whose Jebel Ali complex ranks as the world’s largest single-site primary aluminium smelter using pre-baked anode technology, strives continuously to minimize the impact of its operations on the environment by implementing advanced technologies and adhering to strict operating standards. For example, conserving energy is a top priority at DUBAL: the company constantly innovates to identify new opportunities to reduce energy consumption or improve energy efficiency of its operations. The company also supports international, regional and local initiatives and campaigns whose objectives reflect the DUBAL’s own ambition of “Zero Harm to People and the Environment”.

Accordingly, DUBAL is not only a registered supporter of Earth Hour — the world’s largest community-driven campaign focused on our planet — but will also again participate actively in Earth Hour 2012, which takes place from 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm on Saturday 31 March 2012. “For the fourth year in a row, we will switch off all unnecessary lights, air conditioners, office computers and other non-vital equipment in a united stand with millions of people across the world,” says Abdulla Kalban (President & CEO).

Being a 24-7 operation, the DUBAL plant cannot be switched off on an ad hoc basis. However, certain non-critical items can be turned off temporarily without compromising individual safety and/or plant security; or affecting production and plant efficiencies. Individual operating departments within DUBAL have identified these items, which will be de-activated for the duration of Earth Hour 2012.

An international movement that has its origins in Australia, Earth Hour has successfully raised awareness about global warming and climate change over the past five years. Having drawn 4,000 participating cities in over 135 countries, the movement has grown into the world’s largest community-driven campaign focused on the environmental challenges facing Planet Earth.

Echoing the Earth Hour organizers’ 2012 challenge to “save the planet”, intimating that there’s much more to environmental consciousness than switching off the lights for one hour once a year, Kalban adds that staff in DUBAL’s administration areas have also been encouraged to turn off their personal computers, printers, scanners, lights and other equipment for the entire weekend (i.e. from Thursday afternoon through to Sunday morning). In addition, DUBAL’s Residential Area – which is home to some 1,600 bachelor employees – will mark Earth Hour 2012 with 60 minutes of complete darkness by turning off all street lamps, flood lights and recreational facility lights. Residents will also be encouraged to turn off their room lights and air-conditioners for the period. The dining halls in the Residential Area will serve dinner earlier than usual, so as to be completely shut by 8:00 pm. “These actions will reinforce the challenge posed by Earth Hour, namely to rethink how we live our lives in the next hour, the next day, and the day after that,” says Kalban.

He adds that Earth Hour’s ambitions reflect DUBAL’s corporate commitment to protecting the environment through energy-conservation and emission-minimization initiatives. “Acknowledging that carbon dioxide is the most common greenhouse and therefore the main cause of global warming, DUBAL in 2009 developed a 2015 Carbon Management Strategy and Implementation Plan that will help our company reduce our carbon footprint by targeting reductions in carbon consumption and emissions from every aspect of our business. Our Carbon Management Strategy and implementation plan outlines how we will undertake programmes to raise awareness about climate change and carbon emissions; implement systems to measure its emissions; identify carbon reduction and abatement options; and continually improve our carbon performance,” says Kalban. “Over the past two years, DUBAL’s carbon dioxide emissions have already dropped by 3,600 kilograms.”

DUBAL’s participation in Earth Hour 2012 has been communicated to the company’s 3,800-plus employees via personalised letters, posters, PC wallpaper, a banner on DUBAL’s corporate website and bulk SMS-messaging. In keeping with the 2012 Earth Hour ‘I Will if You Will’ campaign, letters have also been sent to customers, suppliers and contractors to advise them of DUBAL’s participation in Earth Hour 2012 and encourage them to do so, too.

“By voting for the earth along with hundreds of millions of concerned citizens across the globe, we will stand together to address issues such as global warming,” concludes Kalban. “We hope that through Earth Hour 2012, every member of the greater DUBAL family will be inspired to make a lasting difference to the planet as a whole.”