Kuwait: Zain, Kuwait’s leading digital service provider, sponsored the Kuwait Sustainability Conference held at Shaheed Park under the title Biodiversity to Build a Sustainable Future. The event was organized by the Kuwait Public Relations Association in partnership with the Environment Public Authority (EPA) and came under the patronage and attendance of Chairman and Director General of the EPA Sheikh Abdullah Ahmad Al Humoud Al Sabah.

Zain supported this initiative to encourage projects that aim at advocating environmental sustainability, a topic the company puts at the forefront of its priorities. Zain’s social message seeks to create a culture of sustainability within the community by enriching sustainable practices like reducing consumption, recycling, using renewable sources of energy, and more to contribute to reducing the effects of climate change.

The conference featured four panel discussions about various topics crucial to environmental sustainability and biodiversity. Zain joined one of the panels to showcase its goals and strategies to achieve the company’s sustainability strategy, while also shedding light on its contributions and programs to combat climate change and reduce carbon emissions.

During the conference, Zain also demonstrated one of its latest sustainable projects: the company’s own recycled shopping tote bags made out of its outdoor billboard ads. The bags are offered to Zain’s customers for use during shopping in place of plastic bags to encourage sustainable shopping and raise environmental awareness.

Zain’s part does not stop at raising awareness and supporting environmental programs, but also extends to reducing its own footprint. The company continues to exert more efforts into reducing the environmental footprint of its operations, including preserving natural resources, reducing energy consumption, recycling waste, implementing green solutions for water and electricity management, monitoring the company’s overall effects on climate change, and more.

Through its corporate sustainability and social responsibility strategy, Zain is committed to building climate change scenarios that are aligned with the Paris Agreement (2015) to reduce carbon emissions and mitigate physical and environmental risks. The company is well aware of the urgent need to tackle the climate crisis the world is facing today.

Currently, Zain scores A- through its participation in the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), a reflection of its success in meeting the standards and requirements of the project. Zain is also one of the few companies in the region’s markets to have a membership in the CDP.

Zain established an array of initiatives across its operating companies, including the distribution of reusable bags to all employees, and installing water coolers to reduce the use of plastic bottles. The company also developed its first comprehensive Scope 3 inventory process aligned with the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol guidelines for a more accurate and transparent evaluation of its value chain emissions. This allows it to not only disclose and report in a more concise manner but be able to identify areas in which it can reduce its GHG emissions.

Zain continues to address its strategic approach to addressing climate change under its 2020-2025 sustainability strategy. Climate change is a pillar on which the organization has set three focus areas where Zain can address its negative impacts on the environment and create positive ones: Network & Energy Consumption, Strategy & Communication, and Waste Management & Circular Economy.

The Kuwait Sustainability Conference aimed to change some of the unsustainable developmental policies, work on achieving sustainable biodiversity, and tackle the dangers facing nature in today’s world. The conference also worked on raising awareness on individual unsustainable practices, encouraging investment in biodiverse and sustainable projects, and unifying efforts of both the private and public sectors to tackle climate change.