Tom Elam's journey into sustainability

What sparked your interest in sustainability?

This has been a personal journey over the past few years. I came across the name of Paul Hawken, an Environmentalist who developed Project Drawdown . He believes that to motivate action on climate change, the focus needs to be on solutions rather the problem. He believes that those solutions can stem from changing the type of refrigerants used, to reducing food waste. This really resonated with me, and showed me that one’s individual actions can impact the greater good. We cannot expect others (governments or companies) to fix the problems by themselves, we all have a part to play.

How do you see things changing in the UAE?

The government has implemented the UAE Net Zero by 2050 Strategic Initiative and the EXPO 2020 was a great advert for sustainability. I really believe this helped open many peoples’ eyes to the impact we all have on the planet.

In addition, Expo City Dubai has been selected as the location for COP 28 in 2023. Having this unique event in the UAE is a recognition of the country’s leadership on climate change. Recently, His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan announced that the UAE has already invested more than $50 billion on renewable energy projects, and will double that over the next 10 years.

How can individuals better understand sustainability?

When you scratch underneath the surface, you will discover that there are many areas of society where positive change will impact the future of our planet. Probably one of the best ways to understand this is through the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These are the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. The goals address the global challenges we face, including poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace and justice. AtkinsRéalis ’s vision is underpinned by the SDGs.

Can you give us an example of a sustainability initiative that you are involved with?

I want to link this to the UN Sustainable Development Goals since this is the foundation for everything we can do as individuals and as a corporation to address the global challenge. This particular initiative ties in with Goals 11, 12, 13 and 15 . According to Dubai Carbon, the UAE ranks among the top nations for per capita waste generation in the world. Roughly, 38% of the food prepared every day in the emirate is wasted, which jumps to around 60% during Ramadan. My family subscribes to a local initiative called the Thewastelab . They offer a service to collect organic waste from homes and businesses to create healthy compost and other byproducts that benefit local soil, farms, food and jobs.

What can employees do to support the company’s ESG targets?

Firstly, it’s important that employees take the time to understand the company’s vision for engineering a sustainable society. There are some very clear targets and objectives laid out in the roadmap . This outlines how the organization will reduce our carbon footprint and emissions. By simply considering the impact your actions have on travel, this will help us achieve the targets. Are you able to take public transport to the office, or car pool? Next time you are asked to fly to a meeting, have you properly discussed the need to travel? There are some great digital tools available that allow us to do much more work from remote locations.

What’s going on in the region to support ESG targets?

At a corporate level, AtkinsRéalis has committed to Regional Sustainability Action Plans for 2022. The action plan for the Middle East focuses on initiatives to decarbonize our corporate activities, and we have been reporting on this for the last two years. The other themes in the action plan span five key delivery areas: Strategy, Win Work, Deliver Work and Culture and Leadership. This year we became a member of the Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi’s Green-Business-Network , and we also re-started the regional sustainability network after COVID-19. We are always looking for people to join the network, so please get in touch if you are interested.