This week, Dubai hosted the World ESG Summit, convening experts, investors, and enthusiasts to discuss the latest trends, facilitate constructive dialogue and explore partnerships.
On the sidelines of the summit, Sal Jafar, Founder, CEO and Editor-in-Chief of ESG Mena, met with Dana Kamali, Chief Business Officer at “Majra” National CSR Fund—the UAE federal arm responsible for the framework and governance for Sustainable Impact, Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)— to discuss driving action in the corporate realm, combatting greenwashing, and mandatory disclosure.
Dana, talk me through the measures you’re taking to motivate companies to adopt and implement sustainability and social responsibility standards.
We are working to enhance companies’ awareness of sustainability, so we launched “Knowledge Field,” a global platform in the Emirates that includes guidebooks and training courses documented by Masra, which company owners can study to understand more about sustainability and how to apply it.
Secondly, we are developing policies and frameworks to evaluate and reward sustainable practices in private entities.
Last year, 81 companies won the Social Impact Medal, 16 of which won the Platinum category, and Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum honoured them.
And what steps have you taken to combat greenwashing?
We recently launched “Seal”, a project to document companies that deliver sustainable impact.
Based on the Prime Minister’s decision, any project that is classified within the scope of sustainability and social responsibility must be approved by us, so we ask companies to share their projects with us so that we can study them and find out the extent of their compatibility.
With national priorities and sustainable development goals, we then give them the “Sustainable Impact Project” stamp. This helps them promote themselves as certified and gives them the opportunity to collaborate with other companies and obtain material or moral support.
How do you convince companies that adopting environmental and social responsibility standards is both a priority and an important element for business development?
For context, I have been working in the field of sustainability and social responsibility for 14 years.
There are many simple things that people do that they don’t realise are sustainable behaviours.
For example, I was discussing sustainability with my mother, and I told her that it means helping people, supporting the community, and promoting its health and well-being.
As for companies, of course, they are primarily concerned with numbers, so we will soon launch a “mandatory disclosure” policy that will require all companies in the UAE, with the exception of a small number, to disclose their sustainability practices.
Through this disclosure, we will produce reports for them showing them the cost savings and how they contributed.
These practices contribute to both the sustainability of the institution and the sustainability of the economy simultaneously.
Finally, tell me about the role technology plays in supporting companies in implementing social responsibility standards.
Sustainability and technology are linked, so in the “Knowledge Field” platform that we launched to enhance awareness of sustainability, there is a section dedicated to communication between companies, sustainability experts and shareholders in approved projects. This platform works with artificial intelligence (AI) to connect companies and parties that wish to provide support.