The Red Sea Development Company, the developer of one of the world’s most ambitious renewable tourism projects, announced that it had obtained an average of 84 out of 100 points in the global rating on Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) conducted by the Global Real Estate Sustainability Index (GRESB).
The Global Real Estate Sustainability Index (GRESB) evaluated the performance of the Red Sea Project according to the unified standards of environment, society and governance. The company received this high score in recognition of its robust environmental management structure and the measures taken to ensure the protection and enhancement of the environment at the project site. The regulators in the Global Real Estate Sustainability Index gave the Red Sea Development Company an excellent rating of 49 out of 51 points in the “Environment Category”.
This follows a rigorous assessment of environmental integrity across all levels of the company’s business, from pre-conceptualization to delivery. The Red Sea Development Company outperformed the overall average in the Global Real Estate Sustainability Index (GRESB) for this category, which is 34 out of 51; This reflects the strict standards adopted by the company to monitor and manage the environmental impacts of its project.
The project developer was awarded the “Green Star” criterion for achieving a score above 50% in the management and development aspects of the evaluation.
John Pagano, CEO of The Red Sea Development Company, said: “Sustainability has been one of our guiding principles in making all our decisions since the initial idea of the project was launched, and this achievement reflects our great efforts and our firm commitment to become the first sustainable and renewable tourism project in the world.” The assessments of the Global Real Estate Sustainability Index stem from the core issues in the sustainability performance of real estate asset investments, and are in line with the international reporting framework, such as the Paris Climate Agreement.
Its mission is to assess and measure environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) and other practices relating to real estate assets, and to provide standardized and validated data to the capital markets. These high points in the evaluation are a tribute from the global real estate sustainability index to the pioneering technologies used by the Red Sea Development Company to reduce the environmental impact on the destination.
The project received a full score (100 out of 100) in specific subcategories including materials, water use and waste management, thanks to the company’s innovative solutions to reduce potential impacts on the environment. For his part, Raed Al-Baseet, Executive Director of Environment and Sustainability at The Red Sea Development Company, said: We seek to achieve the highest levels of transparency and disclosure about the measures we are taking to reduce and enhance the impact of project development on the environment. He added: We always welcome any multi-level assessments of external regulators such as the Global Real Estate Sustainability Index. Such accurate evaluations of the construction and handover processes of the project motivate us to study all our steps and exert our full potential, not only in order to preserve the environment, but also to develop it for the sake of future generations. “This achievement is of particular significance as it is underpinned by our unwavering commitment to the environment and recognizes the tremendous strides that have been made in our quest to set new standards for sustainability,” said Pagano.
The Red Sea project will start receiving its first guests by the end of 2022. The first phase of the project includes the construction of 16 luxury hotels, providing a total of 3,000 hotel rooms on five islands and two internal sites, in addition to recreational facilities, an airport, and the necessary infrastructure of logistical facilities and services. The Red Sea project, when completed in 2030, will consist of 50 hotels providing up to 8,000 hotel rooms and about 1,300 residential properties spread over 22 islands and six inland locations.
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