DED, DHL deal on green warehouse

The Department of Economic Development (DED) has joined hands with DHL to develop the Middle East's first carbon neutral warehouse which would enable Dubai to reduce its carbon footprint by 1.9 million tonnes of CO2 annually, by 2020.

In a statement, DED said the initiative was aimed at transforming the Dnata Cargo site – the FreightGate-5 airport cargo terminal. This will be equivalent to the current annual carbon footprint of some 60,000 UAE residents, it added.

Sami Al Qamzi, Director-General, DED, said: "Integrating the emirate's logistics sector with sustainable development best practices is imperative to driving further efficiencies, and will generate stronger demand for the logistics sector."

A key stage in the plan is to convert a government-owned and operated warehouse in Dubai to carbon neutral status and follow it up with research and development of blueprints for reducing carbon in warehousing and vehicles in the logistics sector.

"The upgrading will lead to significant energy savings, with the investment of just under Dh600,000 to be paid back in two to four years. Each of the specific energy-saving measures proposed for the warehouse was costed and then subjected to a standard business case approval process, in order to measure their financial viability in the UAE," said the statement.