Page 19 - SAMENA Trends - May-June 2022

FEATURED SAMENA TRENDS

SAMENA Council Members on Path to

Addressing Climate Change

Earlier in March this year, various SAMENA
Council Member Operators, including stc
Group, Etisalat by e&, Zain Group, and
Omantel, among others, signed an MoU
with the aim to strengthen cooperation
to reduce the Operators’ carbon footprint
through their operations. The multi-
operator memorandum reflects the efforts
of the SA-ME-NA region’s major telecom
operators to improve the ICT industry and
activate their roles in facing environmental
challenges, focusing on climate change
and advancing the regional sustainability
agenda. “This memorandum is an extension
of KSA’s vision in strengthening partnership
between all sectors to preserve and sustain
the economic, social and environmental
resources achieved by the Gulf countries
for future generations,” said Abdullah
Abdulrahman Alkanhl, chief corporate affairs
officer, stc. Salem Al-Mannai, vice president
of Technology Infrastructure at e&, said: “Through this memorandum, the group seeks to strengthen its partnerships to confront
climate change and make all possible efforts to motivate other sectors to join these endeavors aimed at accelerating the
achievement of carbon neutrality in the possible time frame in addition to our commitment to the GSMA initiative; to move
the entire mobile industry to carbon neutral by 2050.” Jennifer Suleiman, Zain group chief sustainability officer, said: “Climate
change and reducing our carbon footprint are material to Zain’s strategic objectives across our markets. This collaboration
between like-minded operators is a transformative step towards advancing sustainability across the GCC and is in line with our
sustainability ambition of providing meaningful connectivity leading to systemic change.” Said Al Ajmi, vice president operations,
of Omantel, said: “We are proud to be one of the first telecommunication companies in the region to issue a sustainability report
covering performance in all these aspects, as we issued our first report in 2012, in addition, we launched several initiatives
aimed at reducing our impact on the environment by building on the digital transformation and automation and benefiting from
it, in developing and transforming our procedures and processes.”

Zain Embarks on Key Corporate Huawei Intelligent Net-Zero Carbon

Sustainability Strategy Campus Solution Wins WSIS Prize

Zain Group, a leading telecom innovator, is focused on providing Huawei was named Champion at the World Summit on the
meaningful connectivity and driving equitable systematic change, Information Society (WSIS) 2022 Forum's Prizes Ceremony in
centered on a five-year corporate sustainability strategy. Announcing Geneva. The WSIS 2022 Prizes Campion, was presented to Huawei
the publication of its 11th consecutive annual sustainability report, for its use of their intelligent net-zero carbon campus solution
entitled ‘A resilient journey across a challenging year’, Zain, which at the Yancheng Low-carbon & Smart Energy Industrial Park
has presence in seven markets across the Middle East and Africa, project. A total of 996 projects were considered for this award,
summarizes its sustainability-related activities during the year and the selection process took five months. WSIS is the world's
based on its new five-year Corporate Sustainability strategy that is largest annual gathering of the ICT for development community.
grounded on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The The event aims at advancing global sustainable development
report showcases how Zain continues to improve and adapt its goals is co-organized by the ITU, the United Nations Educational,
activities to align to international best practices and reporting that Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations
follows the GRI Standards Framework. Zain is also implementing Development Programme (UNDP), and other UN organizations
the Sustainability Accounting Standard Board (SASB) framework and WSIS action plan facilitators. The WSIS Prizes contest awards

19 MAY-JUNE 2022