The Red Sea Development Company has achieved fresh standardized targets for sustainability, scoring 84 out of 100 in its first ever ESG assessment by Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB).
The Red Sea Development Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, established to develop the sustainable luxury tourism destination The Red Sea Project.
The company achieved the highest score in the Environmental category, scoring 49 out of 51. This is much higher than the GRESB’s average score of 34, the company said. It also achieved a Green Star by the GRESB for scoring over 50% in management and development categories. Moreover, the company also scored full marks in the materials, water use and waste management categories.
The GRESB awarded the score to The Red Sea Development Company for forming a strong environmental governance structure, and integrating environmental protection and enhancement measures.
“Since the project’s conception, sustainability has been our guiding principle for design and development, informing every single decision that is made. This award is a real testament to all our hard work and unwavering commitment to become the world’s first truly regenerative tourism project,” CEO of The Red Sea Development Company, John Pagano said.
OTHER SUSTAINABILITY HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE RED SEA DEVELOPMENT COMPANY
In April this year, the company closed a USD 3.76 billion term loan facility from four Saudi banks, with Green Financing accreditation. The accreditation was awarded as a recognition of sustainability efforts at The Red Sea Development Company.
It also announced a bottled water partnership with sustainable water brand Source, becoming the world’s first destination to offer bottled water that is made from patented solar technology that can extract pure water vapor from the atmosphere.
The partnership entails a Source production facility built onsite at The Red Sea Project. It will have a capacity for two million packaged glass bottles of water, and will run on a circular sustainable distribution model.
The Red Sea Development Company expects to open the doors to the luxury ecotourism project by the end of next year. Visitors will have access to 3,000 keys at 16 luxury hotels, spread across five islands and two inland locations.
The project also passed the first stage of receiving a LEED accreditation earlier this year.
The project is expected to be completed by 2030, featuring 50 hotels with up to 8,000 keys, and 1,300 residential properties across 22 islands and six inland sites by then.
Photo credit: /www.theredsea.sa/en
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