The Ministry of Environment and Water , UAE has launched an environmental performance card for industrial facilities . It will help determine whether the facilities abide by the environmental laws of the country. Environmental card is to reduce carbon emissions in the country

The ministry has already organised workshops to explain the purpose of the card and motivate facilities to participate in the programme. The workshops also elaborated on how the card works and  the importance of participation.

Environmental performance card is a certificate granted by the Ministry of Environment and Water to industrial establishments that are committed to environmental laws and regulations of United Arab Emirates, the ministry has embarked on the implementation of environmental performance card as one of the initiatives of its strategic Plan since 2009.

The Ministry of Environment and Water , Abu Dhabi , UAE requested companies in the country to apply for Environmental Performance Card at the soonest. It is an initiative to promote the concept of green production, reduce carbon emissions during production processes, and save energy and raw material.

The Ministry started conducting visits to the industrial enterprises and companies that have applied for the environmental performance card, and such visits will continue .

The ministry is working through these visits to assess requests by enterprises and companies that have applied for the card to select the industrial facilities which have met the minimum requirements to obtain the card.

Department of Chemicals and Hazardous Waste Department at the ministry has indicated that industrial enterprises are evaluated according to their commitment to environmental laws and regulations and its regulations on environmental protection and development, and application of safe environmental management.

The assessment also includes how the enterprise is handling chemicals, industrial waste and air pollutants resulting from the facility. It also checks whether the enterprises follow a system of health, safety and environment procedure, and usage of green production technology. The assessment is conducted by many working groups of specialised technical specialists at the ministry.

The environmental performance card initiative is one of the many initiatives at the Ministry that would support the achievement of the motto ?Towards a Green Production 2021?. It promotes a cleaner production concept to avoid the use of hazardous substances as much as possible, to raise the efficiency of industrial enterprises, and to reduce emissions and waste resulting from production processes.

The adoption of green production will reap many benefits, economically and environmentally. Economically, it will reduce the cost of waste disposal operations, and will reduce production costs in terms of providing energy and raw materials. While, on the environmental scale, it will reduce the quality and quantity of pollutants, reduce risks and industrial accidents, and thus it will improve the quality of the environment which would positively affect the human life, wildlife and biodiversity.