GPIC has overcome major challenges: Dr Jawahery
Manama : Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company (GPIC) President Dr Abdulrahman Jawahery yesterday affirmed the company’s commitment to United Nations sustainability goals and Bahrain Vision 2030 while revealing that last year (2017) posed major challenges in achieving sustainability
In an interview, he said the Company’s contributions to the implementation of the 17 United Nations sustainability goals related primarily to the future of global development and covered a wide range of issues, including eradicating hunger, spreading education, improving health and making cities more sustainable.
Dr Jawahery said the objectives of sustainable development are not legally binding, but it is expected that governments in all countries will develop appropriate frameworks to achieve them.
“We are a strong supporter of these global goals, especially since we have contributed to all stages, from the development of indicators and sharing best practices through the UN Global Compact programme.”
Dr Jawahery said GPIC is keen to identify its performance by publishing its sustainability reports every two years. “These reports show how we have made progress to achieve long-term sustainability objectives and encourage others to do so.
GPIC was set up as a joint venture equally owned by the Government of Bahrain, the Saudi Basic Industries Corporation and Petrochemical Industries Company of Kuwait.
Speaking about steps to contribute to the goals of sustainable development, Dr Jawahery said that the Company’s foundations are based on the three pillars of sustainable development, on which it works to balance and continuously improve. “These are human care, conservation of the planet and profit.”
“Our employees participated in a United Nations global survey of sustainable development goals in 2013 and received more than 7 million votes from around the world.” He said 75 per cent of the participants were under 30 years old.
With regard to the goal of eliminating hunger, the Company is working with both the Arab Fertiliser Association (AFA) and the International Fertiliser Industry Association (IFA) to promote training in the use of fertilisers and to increase food production. The Company has also issued a booklet on the use of urea for Bahraini farmers.
“We have produced more than 11.5 million tons of granular Urea since 1998 and a total of more than 37 million tons of Ammonia, Methanol and granular Urea since 1985.
He said there is complete gender equality at the Company and men and women are given equal pay. “The Company has adhered to the principles of women’s empowerment in the UN Global Compact in 2014. The initiatives for 2017 include support for the Government’s initiative to proclaim 2017 as the year for Bahraini women working in the engineering field.”
He said with regard to the objectives of economic growth, the Company is keen to provide jobs, contribute to the Bahraini economy and support local contractors in addition to sponsoring events in the community to promote economic growth. “We have so far pumped in $4.498 billion into the national economy.”
Dr Jawahery said that GPIC is keen on resource efficiency, energy conservation and air and water quality. “Recycling operations continue all the time. For example, we recycle cardboard, reduce waste and implement sustainable resource efficiency improvement projects.”
On climate measures, he said, the Company participates in carbon dioxide reduction initiatives at the national level and works with the National Oil and Gas Authority to measure and manage these emissions.
In terms of marine life, he said, GPIC monitors estuaries for its protection and takes care of the fish farm it has established for fish farming and marine life development.
Dr Jawahery said that GPIC would continue to contribute in one way or the other to achieve sustainable development goals.
He said at the global level, the objectives of sustainable development will be monitored through the use of a set of global indicators adopted by the United Nations Statistical Commission.
Related Posts