Sabban Property Investments (SPI), has in association with The CarbonNeutral Company (TCNC), announced plans to construct the Middle East’s first-ever CarbonNeutral development.

The QR1 billion ($274 million) project, Sabban Towers, upon completion in the first quarter of 2008, will become the first project in the region to achieve CarbonNeutral status.
The announcement follows the completion of an assessment of the Sabban Towers by TCNC and will involve an investment of QR3.5 million by SPI into various carbon-offset projects across the globe.
SPI commissioned TCNC to undertake a greenhouse gas emissions assessment of the Sabban Towers in early 2006, and the results showed that the construction of the shell of the three towers would result in the emissions of approximately 75,900 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2). By becoming carbon neutral, SPI is aiming to mitigate the CO2 emissions caused by its use of energy, shipment of its construction material and other related construction works. SPI’s carbon neutral commitment involves measuring its CO2 emissions, reducing them where possible and then offsetting the unavoidable emissions. The company is looking at investing in a variety of renewable energy, energy efficiency and sustainable forestry projects in New Zealand, Jamaica and Uganda respectively that will offset the CO2 emissions it creates whilst also contributing to the sustainability of local communities.
“Climate change has been recognised as one of the most important threats facing the world and the scientific consensus is that CO2 emissions from human activities are the main cause. SPI decided to tackle these emissions and to work with The CarbonNeutral Company to reduce and balance our CO2 emissions to net zero,” said John Browne, managing director, Sabban Property Investments.
“As a pioneer in environmentally-friendly construction and as part of our commitment to reducing our impact on the environment, we are proud to announce that the Sabban Towers will be the first project in the region to achieve Carbon-Neutral status. We are happy to initiate the ‘green drive’ in the region and we hope to continue leading the way with environmentally-friendly projects across the Middle East,” he added.
The IEA World Energy Outlook 2004 predicted that CO2 emissions are set to increase by 63 per cent over 2002 levels by 2030.
The issue of climate change is a global challenge and natural disaster losses resulting from fluctuating weather patterns are expected to double approximately every 10 years and could reach about $150 billion in 10 years.
“The Middle East region is witnessing a phenomenal real estate boom and this rapid development has led to greater levels of greenhouse gas emissions. However, developers in the region have been relatively slow to recognise the importance of offsetting carbon emissions. To date, there has been very little ecologically-friendly engagement from companies in the region and we are therefore extremely excited to partner with an environmentally-conscious developer such as Sabban Property Investments to initiate the region’s first carbon neutral development,” said Jonathan Shopley, CEO of The CarbonNeutral Company.