Green Procurement of Construction Industry in United Arab Emirates
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Date
2012-10
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The British University in Dubai (BUiD)
Abstract
The increasing activities of the human being on earth contribute considerably in the extensive depletion of the natural resources and in increasing both the biological and carbon footprint especially in the United Arab Emirates. Construction industry is considered a vital sector in the UAE since it contributes approximately eight per cent (8%) to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and twelve percent (12%) to the non oil GDP. Therefore, Procurement, processes of construction industry in the UAE, needs to be reconsidered in order to reduce the environmental impact and achieve the sustainable development. This dissertation aimed to examine the current adopted procurement systems in the construction industry against green procurement requirements for transformation. Literature review was conducted in order to understand the current procurement systems. Then, a theoretical frame work was developed in order to transform to green procurement taking into consideration the construction project stakeholders: client, consultant, and contractor in addition to the contract document. Surveys were conducted; interviews with specialists were performed in order to contrast the results with the information gained from the literature. The main conclusions include identification of the global and local driving factors for sustainability, the necessity to include environmental sustainability in the organisation’s Corporates Social Responsibility, identification of the obstacles of transformation, and finally, identification of transformation requirements. After that, the major gaps between the current and green procurement were lack of client input and scarcity of the environmental criteria in contract documents. Therefore, client input and control is crucial to guarantee the proper application of green procurement.
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Keywords
green procurement, construction industry, United Arab Emirates (UAE), environment, sustainability, contract