The theme of environmental responsibility has been making news in Middle East telecommunications in recent days.
Zain Group, a major name in seven markets across the Middle East and Africa, has announced its inclusion in the global list of the CDP with an advanced rating in Management Scope ‘B’ for the Climate Change Index.
CDP is a not-for-profit charity that runs a global disclosure system for investors, companies, cities, states and regions to manage their environmental impacts. There are now companies, cities and regions in over 90 countries disclosing emissions data to the CDP Foundation.
This rating, says Zain, makes it the highest-ranked and only operator in the Middle East and Africa to achieve this positive rating with respect to its efforts to address climate change.
Zain points out that only 35 percent of the 9,600 companies and institutions included in the CDP list attained Management level score or higher, of which Zain was one. It adds that Zain’s climate action plan has set targets to reduce emissions, reduce waste, and align with UN Sustainable Development Goal number 13.
This announcement comes soon after the news that Riyadh-headquartered IT solutions and services company Al Moammar Information Systems has signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Abunayyan Holding Group, a Saudi solutions provider in the power and water sectors, to establish a joint venture company with the aim of exploring the feasibility of building and developing green data centres based on renewable energy in the Saudi Arabia.
The partners say that the MoU provides a general framework to facilitate cooperation between the two parties to launch a joint company to establish data centres that work entirely on clean and sustainable energy.
It’s probably too early to suggest a green trend in Middle East telecommunications, but it will be interesting to see whether and how similar companies in the region respond to this news.
