Sustainability

The well-being of our stakeholders has been, and always will be one of the primary areas of focus at GAC. From employees and their families to customers, suppliers, and future generations, GAC has a duty to assess the impact its activities and practices have on anyone affected by the organisation.

• Many GAC companies provide support to boost the well-being and mental health of their employees. For example GAC Singapore participated in a study to help identify and tackle fatigue in the workplace. Based on its findings, steps will be taken to improve working conditions to reduce fatigue.
• GAC UK is running an ongoing campaign to promote mental health in the workplace and beyond. They have a team of Mental Health First Aiders and a Well Being Working Group.
• The GAC Corporate Academy (GCA) also offers an online Managing Mental Well-being course to help employee manage their well-being and work through any struggles they may be experiencing.

As a global group, GAC considers its impact on the sustainability of the local, national, and international economy. The integrity of our business practices, policies, procedures and tools is important in ensuring the Group’s continued ability to provide employment, encourage innovation, contribute to local economies through taxes, create opportunities, and further add economic value.

Throughout the GAC World, our people work hard to deliver excellence in everything we do. One of GAC’s key responsibilities is to ensure the health, safety and welfare of our employees.

GAC employees enjoy lifelong learning with GAC Corporate Academy (GCA). GCA prioritises vocational training to build teams that are highly skilled and innovative to provide the best service we can deliver.

We apply the same stringent HSSE approach and processes throughout the GAC Group to provide HSSE sustainable workplaces in GAC. HSSE training is compulsory for all GAC employees including new hires. The GCA conducts its own two-week e-learning HSSE course.

• In 2023 GAC Qatar is recognised as one of Qatar’s best workplaces by Great Place to Work^®, the global authority on high-trust, high-performance workplace cultures, after a thorough and independent survey analysis, for a second year running.

We have a responsibility to work proactively to reduce inequalities and ensure gender equality. On top of that, we see the immense value that diversity brings to an organisation. The society benefits from fair hiring, compensation and other practices that reduce inequalities; these also contribute to ensuring sustainable business through utlisation of all of society's available resources. GAC is committed to work towards fair treatment for all.

• As a Signatory of the Diversity in Maritime Charter, GAC UK is working to close the diversity gap and make shipping more inclusive.
• Marine Leisure specialist GAC Pindar supports the Magenta Project’s work in promoting equal access and opportunities for women in sailing.

The GAC Group has a strong pioneering tradition. This includes looking ahead and taking responsibility for the impact our business has on the environment for the future. The Group is currently taking steps to reduce emissions and is committing to a Net Zero Carbon future. GAC is a member of the Global Maritime Forum’s Getting To Zero Coalition, an alliance of more than 140 companies from the maritime, energy, infrastructure and finance sectors working to accelerate the decarbonisation of shipping by developing and deploying zero-emission vessels (ZEVs) by the end of the decade.

Carbon emissions are classified under three categories, or “scopes”. To improve our emissions footprint and navigate our operations towards carbon neutrality, we will measure, manage and report on our performance for all three scopes.

Our first goal in our journey towards carbon neutrality is for all GAC companies measure and report their carbon footprint in line with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol by the end of 2022. Our goal is to be net carbon zero by 2050 at the latest.

• GAC Norway has been awarded the Eco-Lighthouse Certification, the Norwegian equivalent of EMAS and ISO 14001.
• GAC Bunker Fuels is the world’s only bunker company whose ISO certification covers Liquified Natural Gas, which emits 25% less carbon dioxide than conventional marine fuels. Their Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions calculations has been verified by Bureau Veritas UK Limited in January 2022 – an important step in the process of reducing and offsetting emissions, which is in line with its goal to be net carbon zero by 1 January 2030.
• GAC Qatar’s contract logistics facility in the Ras Bufontas Free Zone is GSAS-certified (Global Sustainability Assessment System). Constructed using sustainable materials, it boasts numerous eco-friendly features such as wastewater recycling, electric shuttle buses, LED lights, energy-conserving automated cut-off system, sewage treatment plants, and more. It was awarded country prize in the Living Business programme for its project to recover and reuse 85% of wastewater generated from container cleaning at its inland container depot.
• GAC Dubai’s installation of solar panels on three of its contract logistics facilities, which covers between 75% and 93% of the facilities’ total electricity needs. The combined energy production is equivalent to the amount needed to power 20,000 households. Over the course of a year, the 2.7 megawatt-peak (MW) solar-powered rooftop at GAC’s Dubai South contract logistics facility generated 5 million kilowatt-hour (kWh) of renewable electricity, the equivalent of planting 35,000 trees.
• GAC Bahrain has installed photovoltaic solar panels on the rooftop of its warehouse at Bahrain Investment Wharf, Al Hidd. The 550 panels will generate up to 487,000 kWh of solar power to meet the facility's electricity needs and reduce its Co2 emissions by more than 485 tonnes.
• GAC Sri Lana's Galle facility is completely run using solar power with any excess energy channelled into the national grid.

Every GAC company will commit to implement an initiative related to Life Below Water. GAC is a member of maritime pollution reporting and mapping initiative Eyesea. Eyesea’s smartphone app enables users to submit geotagged photographs to report hazards and pollution in the open seas. Data collected is made available to the public, non-profit organisations and government bodies to conduct clean-up activities.

• GAC offers eco-friendly underwater hull cleaning services to boost vessels’ fuel efficiency and capture fouling which have been removed to prevent pollution and the spread of invasive marine species.
• GAC companies around the world actively supported the Volvo Ocean Race's #cleanseas campaign with many companies and colleagues committing to make a difference at cleanseas.org/pledge.
• GAC companies in Greece and the UK have joined the Green Award (GA) Foundation. GA-certified ships that use GAC’s ship agency services at ports in those countries can claim a discount on agency fees.
• In 2019, GAC Pindar and visiting professional sailors joined a clean-up exercise of an inner-city beach in Southampton with the aim of formulating a long-term plan for the site.
• GAC UK is supporting Seavive, a seagrass restoration experiment being trialed within Falmouth Harbour. An estimated 44% of the UK’s seagrass have been lost since 1936. To reverse that decline, the Seavive pod, made of recycled plastics, has been developed to replenish seagrass beds.
• GAC Sri Lanka is supporting a coal replanting programme in the waters of the Dodanduwa costal town in partnership with the the country's Marine Environment Protection Authority (MEPA).

We work with our customers to enhance and refine our ability to meet their needs and help them achieve their sustainability goals. This is at the core of what we do, embodied in our brand promise “Delivering your strategy.” and in our focus on SDG 17 - Partnership for the Goals.

• In November 2019, GAC was designated as the main sponsor of the Dubai Offshore Sailing Club (DOSC) initiative to help young people with learning or physical challenges experience the thrill of sailing. "DOSC Sailability, powered by GAC" enabled the Club to upgrade its fleet and other equipment in the following years.

Our companies around the world take responsibility to positively impact our local communities, and our people enjoy raising awareness and funds for worthy causes. Whether it is funding local projects, cleaning up waste, supporting children’s charities, tree planting, blood donations, helping the response to natural disasters, or raising money for maritime charities such as the Sailors’ Society, GAC is fully immersed in the communities in which we operate.

• Many GAC companies are involved in environmental regeneration programmes. This includes GAC Panama which works with local organisations to collect and nurture seedlings, and replant them in areas that need reforestation when they mature.
• As part of GAC Dubai's sustainability efforts, it worked with Plant-for-the-Planet, a non-profit organisation, and took part in an exercise to plant over 3,600 trees in the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico.
• GAC Sri Lanka partnered with the Department of Wildlife for their mangrove replanting project to propagate the Sonneratia Caseolaris variety of mangroves in the Matara, Kiralakale Sanctuary.

GAC has embarked on our journey towards sustainability and are well on our way – but there is so much more that we can and must do. It will take hard work, commitment, and cooperation with all our stakeholders to do to succeed. While every individual can make a real difference, together we can learn from each other and make greater progress.

A Sustainability Working Group (SWG) has been formed to chart our sustainability journey and help colleagues throughout GAC world to turn their good intentions and ideas into verifiable actions. This team reports directly to the Sustainability Steering Committee to influence real change.

Underlying the Group’s commitment to a strong sustainability culture, the Chairman’s Sustainability Excellence Awards is a key initiative that recognises and rewards GAC companies which successfully implemented initiatives that make sustainability an integral part of their day-to-day activities. GAC UK won the inaugural Chairman’s Sustainability Excellence Awards in 2022 with GAC Sri Lanka and GAC Singapore as runners-up for their diverse range of sustainability projects.

Sustainability is integral to who we are and what we do, now and in the future. We promise to work towards a better tomorrow for the planet and people. It is also how we help our customers deliver their strategy.