Atlantis Dubai has announced that Atlantis, The Palm and Atlantis Aquaventure have each retained EarthCheck Silver Certification following a rigorous audit of operational sustainability practices.

This is the fourth year that both applications have maintained the Silver certified status. This year, the teams expect to attain the EarthCheck Gold Certification, an achievement following five years of EarthCheck reporting.

In addition, following its opening in February 2023, Atlantis The Royal will apply for EarthCheck Silver Certification for the first time this year.

EarthCheck is recognised as the world's leading scientific benchmarking, certification, and business advisory group focused on travel and tourism. It helps businesses, communities, and governments to evaluate their environmental footprint, improve sustainability and ultimately enhance business performance.

Atlantis, The Palm and Atlantis Aquaventure’s achievements are reflective of Atlantis Dubai’s unwavering commitment to implementing policies in keeping with the world's highest ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) standards.

Atlantis Dubai’s significant initiatives include an on-site water bottling plant, food waste reduction technology in all buffet restaurants, 2,178 roof-top solar panels, and a contribution of more than $250,000 into local and international marine conservation since 2021.

These practices, implemented at scale, all work toward positioning Atlantis Dubai amongst a select, global group of sustainable tourism operators that are certified to EarthCheck’s Company Standard.

Tim Kelly, President of Atlantis Global said: “Sustainability is a high priority of Atlantis Dubai and to retain our certified status in this field is something that we take very seriously. We are incredibly proud to maintain EarthCheck Silver Certification for the fourth year, and we look forward to attaining Gold status this year.

“This accomplishment reflects our consistent dedication to both environmental and social sustainability practices and our commitment to do business in ways that are good for both people and the planet”.

The EarthCheck certification process is driven by a dedicated Green Committee, which work tirelessly to report high volumes of data backed with supporting evidence. The Green Committee has representatives from high-impact business units across Atlantis Dubai in order to drive maximum change.

Atlantis, The Palm and Atlantis Aquaventure were required to report data for the year 2022 on waste management, energy and water conservation strategies, and CSR contributions, amongst others. With exponential improvements over the years, some of the notable achievements as commended by EarthCheck include:

• Atlantis, The Palm reduced waste to landfill by 53.9% in 2022 compared to 2021 – this was a result of recycling more than half a ton of cardboard, glass, paper, and plastic in 2022.
• 72,000L of used cooking oil was recycled into biofuel.
• 100% of office paper used at Atlantis, The Palm and Atlantis Aquaventure come from FSC certified sources.
• On average, more than 80% of cleaning products are biodegradable.
• Irrigation systems for landscaping use a manual moisture measuring system to determine the need for watering, which allows better control of water use.
• Atlantis Aquaventure received a five-star rating and recognition as a regional leader for waste recycling practices.
• Atlantis Aquaventure is a Certified Autism Centre, the first in the Middle East and as such is equipped to provide an inclusive experience for people with autism and varying sensory needs.
• All marine animal experiences are underpinned by research to determine the educational value of the experiences and guest learnings through pre- and post-experience surveys. These surveys look into knowledge gained, conservation awareness and likelihood to be inspired to take action.
• Atlantis, The Palm’s on-site water bottling plant which produces 800L of bottled water per hour has eliminated 2,020,908 single use plastic bottles over a 12-month period.
• From June 2022 to June 2023, with the installation of Winnow Technology, an AI enabled food waste tracking software, Atlantis, The Palm has eliminated on average 40% of food waste from buffets.
• All restaurant menus across Atlantis, The Palm consist of a minimum of five dishes where the main ingredient is locally sourced, organic and/or certified sustainable.

Atlantis Dubai is consistently striving to become a more efficient, effective, and responsible organisation. EarthCheck’s rigorous process for certification is a testament to the destination’s commitment to accountability while ensuring continuous improvement of operations toward environmental and social sustainability. – TradeArabia News Service