Dubai Airports to buy only green cars in future

DUBAI: Dubai Airports joined Dubai's aviation community in signing a pledge to purchase only 'green vehicles' going forward.

The pledge was signed by Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of Dubai Airports; President of the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority; Chairman and CEO of Emirates airline and Group, and representatives from Emirates airline, flydubai, dnata, Dubai Police, Dubai Customs and Dubai's General Directory of Residency and Foreign Affairs.

"This commitment is

fully aligned with the Dubai government's aggressive goals to reduce energy consumption by 30 per cent by 2030 as well as our sector's strategy to limit our environmental footprint," said Sheikh Ahmed.

DXB is home to a fleet of over 6,345 ground service vehicles comprising various types ranging from water tankers to tow tractors to fork lifts operated by a number of companies that operate on the airfield, including airlines, control authorities and dnata. Of these, DXB features a variety of green vehicles, including BMW hybrid limousines for VIP serv- ices and RTA's fleet of Tesla taxis, but wants to scale up efforts to convert the fleet to top hybrid or electric models.

"Our goal is to get greener faster," said Michael Ibbitson, executive vicepresident, infrastructure and technology, Dubai Airports. "Together, we have pledged to buy green going forward with a goal to replace the entire fleet with environment-friendly options by the end of the next decade," he said. The overall Dubai target for the share of hybrid and electric vehicles is at least 2 per cent penetration rate by 2020 and 10pc by 2030 of total vehicles registered in Dubai.