The first Sustainability Report, issued by Dubai Municipality, has achieved global recognition from Global Reporting Initiative, GRI, for having received the GRI Global Mark of Sustainability Reporting, after successfully passing the organisation’s sustainability report evaluation aspects.

Dubai Municipality had prepared its first sustainability report based on strict adherence to the GRI standards published in 2018, said a press release issued by Dubai Municipality on Thursday.

The organisation serves as a global initiative and platform to compare the performance and achievements of public and private institutions in the field of sustainability and social responsibility and their contribution to achieving global development goals. Sustainability reports include a set of disclosures and indicators related to the economic, social and environmental performance of institutions.

Dawoud Al Hajri, Director-General of Dubai Municipality, said that this achievement is part of the municipality's strategy to apply the international best practices and standards in the field of sustainability and social responsibility, and "our contribution in raising the level of representation of Dubai and the UAE within the global competitiveness indicators."

"The launch of the first sustainability report and this achievement is an important step in our march towards excellence, leadership and competition with international institutions," said Noura Al Shamsi, Director of Strategy and Corporate Excellence Department in the municipality.

"The GRI gives us an opportunity to compare our performance with that of government and private organisations and institutions on a global level, helping us identify learning, improvement and development opportunities on our business plans and achieving results beyond the expectations of the global community. Our report will be published on the World Sustainability Organisation website and the municipality's website," she added.

The GRI is an international initiative to promote global sustainability standards since 1997. It encourages public and private institutions to implement practices that support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and publish sustainability reports to achieve the principles of transparency, interoperability and global competitiveness.