Championing a green cause
 

Oman Green Awards has rolled out the ‘green’ carpet for the third edition of its annual prestigious awards ceremony to be held on June 5 at Al Bustan Palace Hotel


Oman Green Awards (OGA), Sultanate’s first environmental award to honour outstanding environmental vision, endeavours and achievements of corporates and individuals, will hold the third edition of its prestigious award ceremony on June 5 at Al Bustan Palace, A Ritz-Carlton Hotel. HE Mohammed Salim Said al Toobi, Minister of Environment and Climate Affairs, will preside over the function as the chief guest and felicitate winners of the nine different categories of the awards.

Oman Green Awards is the ultimate recognition for companies, institutions and individuals in Oman, who demonstrate a commitment towards responsible consumption and sustainable growth. The OGA honours and celebrates their vision in leading the way to a cleaner, greener tomorrow; and offers a unique opportunity to be part of a national platform for this cause.

The OGA is being held in association with the Ministry of Environment and Climate Affairs, Ministry of Health and Muscat Municipality; and representatives from these august organisations will attend the green celebrations, which coincide with the World Environment Day. The event has received massive support from corporate houses and individuals who have made green mission a priority. Oman Oil Marketing Company (OOMCO), OCTAL and Muriya Tourism Development have joined OGA as strategic partners and Sadolin and Green Cover as the support partner to keep the green torch burning bright in the country. The media partners are Times of Oman and Al Shabiba while Infoline is the call centre of the event. The printing partner is Oman Printers & Stationers.

OOMCO’s general manager of operations, engineering and HSSE, Faisal Al Shanfari said, “Being an Omani company, OOMCO has the responsibility to take up the environmental awareness to the public and across the corporates. OOMCO believes that Oman Green Awards would be a right platform for corporates and individuals to come up with great ideas and actions on sustainable development of the country with a mission to protect the environment.”

Explaining some preventive measures taken by OOMCO to preserve the environment Al Shanfari added, “We use double wall FRP tanks, the latest leak detection systems, to prevent underground leak at our retail filling stations. In another step towards offsetting the carbon footprint, we have introduced aluminum road tankers for transporting in order to reduce fuel consumption. In addition, we have LED light in retail filing stations and an ambient air monitoring facilities in Mina Al Fahal area.”

“Oman Green Awards offers a unique opportunity for OCTAL to participate in a national environmental awareness platform,” expressed Nicholas Barakat, CEO of OCTAL. “OCTAL is committed to minimising the environmental impact of its day-to-day operations by integrating environmental management as a standard business practice across the organisation. We believe in continuous improvement and transparency and therefore have engaged third party sustainability experts like Renewable Choice Energy to analyse, track and disclose our environmental performance.”

Explaining the measures taken by OCTAL to reduce its carbon footprint, Barakat said, “OCTAL has successfully eliminated five energy-intensive stages of the conventional PET sheet production process, reducing 67 per cent of energy consumption. With the entire energy requirements derived from clean combustion natural gas, the specially adapted burners consume up to 20 per cent less gas. As a result, the company’s PET sheet, DPET™, boasts a 25 per cent lower carbon footprint than conventional APET as confirmed by Renewable Choice Energy and Intertek Expert Services. The unprecedented environmental advantages of DPET™ has also encouraged local companies to use OCTAL’s proprietary packaging material which is creating a ripple effect in contributing to reducing global carbon footprint.”

Commenting on its tie-up with OGA, Chandra Lahiri, CEO of Muriya Tourism Development, said, “We have partnered OGA 2012 to encourage and support the awareness and accreditation of green initiatives in Oman. Since its foundation, Muriya has been conscious about preventing any negative environmental impacts on the existing flora and fauna in and around its projects.”

He added that Muriya’s ITC project ‘Salalah Beach’ hosts a greenhouse with thousands of plants to be placed around the project. “We have planted over 1,000 coconut palms along the beach, and aim to have a total of 50,000 plants in the project with 1 million sq m of grass. Both Salalah Beach and Jebel Sifah already have a ratio of 25 per cent build-up in comparison to the landscaping. Our other initiatives include using alternate energy sources, appointing specialists for environment protection, setting up recycling plant at Bidiya and deployment of mooring buoys. We have also established buffer zones to preserve environment within our projects.”

“Times of Oman has become synonymous with providing cutting edge news and views to its readers day after day,” said Aziz K Baker, advertisement manger, Muscat Press & Publishing House. “But our responsibility to our subscribers extends beyond just dishing out daily news which is why we have partnered with Oman Green Awards, the country’s first environment awards instituted to recognise eco-protection initiatives. If we have to conserve our good earth for the future, then everyone needs to pitch in with green efforts in the present. We have always accorded top priority to environmental news in both the Times of Oman and Al Shabiba, which means that readers are getting educated about the importance of protecting the nature. Oman Green Awards has become the torch-bearer of environmental activities which are being carried out by the Sultanate’s corporate world.”

N Balachandran, chief operating officer of Sadolin Paints (Oman) commented, “Sadolin was the first paint company in the entire GCC to be certified for ISO 14001 in 1998; and we have annual targets for continuous reduction in water, energy and wastage generation per unit of production. We also have a strong association with AkzoNobel, the largest paint company in the world; and our products are compliant to Euro 2010 standards.”

He added, “It is our constant endeavour as an ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 certified company to go beyond the boundaries of our plant. As of now, we are the only paint company in Oman to market water based products which are LEED compliant (VOC of less than 50 gms per liter). In 2011, we launched Planet Supra, the only thermal barrier coating to be certified by the Clinton Climate Initiative; Planet Supra is also the only Thermal Barrier Coating for which the parent company, Sci paints japan, Inc gets carbon credit based on sales. Being a responsible corporate entity our association with OGA is thus natural; as we believe that our participation is also the best way to communicate the environmentally friendly proposition of our company. Through this association, we hope to support OGA in their noble initiative to raise consciousness about environment protection and sustainable development in the Sultanate.”

Conceived from a perceived need to motivate behavioural change and increase awareness in relation to the protection and preservation of our environment, the OGA has been able to make the corporates, individuals and organisations in the country more serious about building environmental sustainability into their business practices.