Burjeel Holdings has announced a new long-term Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) strategy, setting targets across four key pillars, including a pledge to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040.
These four pillars are: Healthy Environment, Healthy Community, Healthy Governance and Healthy System.
To realise this carbon neutrality goal, the organisation has set mid-term targets for reducing combined Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2024. Further, by 2025, the organisation will develop a strategy to account for Scope 3 carbon emissions.
Burjeel Holdings is also aiming for zero waste to landfill by 2040 and aims to reduce water consumption by 10 per cent by 2030, focusing on reusing 5 per cent of total water consumed annually, it shared.
Dr. Shamsheer Vayalil, Founder and Chairman of Burjeel Holdings, said: “The nature of our business is clearly about sustaining our society by providing healthcare across the community, and we are seeking to align fully with the best international standards on environmental stewardship and governance.
Adding: “One of our key ESG priorities has been to strengthen and formalise our public market-oriented corporate governance. At the time of the IPO, we created a Board of acknowledged experts, of whom 70% are independent directors, and in 2023 we established a Business Development and Sustainability Committee to ensure that we integrate sustainability across our entire business.”
Other goals include having 30 per cent of corporate employees participate in at least one community volunteer activity annually starting in 2025.
Burjeel Holdings also plans to implement patient education programmes for 70 per cent of active patients with chronic conditions by 2026, and it shared that regular patient satisfaction surveys will be conducted to ensure a satisfaction rate of 85 per cent or higher.
By 2026, it also aims to have 100 per cent of healthcare staff complete patient safety training annually.
On the governance side, Burjeel Holdings aims to maintain a high percentage (>50 per cent) of independent directors on its board.
Employee training programmes on data privacy and security, ethics and compliance were also highlighted as key. As such, it aims to have all hospitals in Abu Dhabi accredited by the Abu Dhabi Healthcare Information and Cyber Security Standard (ADHICS) and achieve ISO 27001 certification for all remaining hospitals by 2027.
It also aims to increase the representation of women in leadership roles to 30 per cent or higher by 2030 and maintain a balanced gender ratio (50:50) by 2030.
Further, it targets an employee satisfaction score of 95 per cent by 2026 and a reduction in turnover rate by 15 per cent within the same time frame.
Finally, it shared its aim to achieve 100 per cent compliance of suppliers with ethical labor practices through regular audits by 2026.