UAE. Dubai Duty Free celebrated World Environment Day (5 June) by launching the ‘Plant a Tree, Plant a Legacy’ campaign with the goal of planting 10,000 trees in ten years.
The campaign is the first step of the retailer’s ecosystem restoration journey. Through this initiative and other projects, Dubai Duty Free hopes to inspire an internal culture of environmental protection over the next decade.
The initiative mirrors 2021’s World Environment Day theme ‘United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration’, which aims to protect and revive vital ecosystems around the globe.
Dubai Duty Free is an active member of the Emirates Environmental Group (EEG) and supports the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP). The ‘Plant a Tree, Plant a Legacy’ initiative supports UN Sustainability Goal 15, which is about protecting life on land.
To kickstart the campaign, Dubai Duty Free has adopted a ‘plant-it-forward’ mindset. It has distributed 250 Microgreens Grow Kits to every department, with the objective of multiplying them and growing 1,500 microgreens over one year.
The Microgreens Grow Kit includes a round garden pot, Cress or Fenugreek Seeds, soil and an instruction leaflet. Microgreens are seedlings of leafy green vegetables and herbs. They are considered superfoods and only take a few weeks to grow and harvest.
“I am delighted that Dubai Duty Free has been involved in marking the World Environment Day for many years now,” commented Dubai Duty Free Executive Vice Chairman and CEO Colm McLoughlin. “This new initiative offers a tangible and sustainable opportunity to engage our staff in the restoration of our ecosystem.
“I encourage them to support and participate in every step towards the implementation of this project. Let us continue caring for our environment and carrying out actions so that we can make a difference.”
Dubai Duty Free staff are also encouraged to post about their microgreen progress on social media under the hashtag #DDFPlantaTreePlantaLegacy.
Dubai Duty Free has been ISO 14001 certified since 1999 and has consistently engaged environmental practices within the company. The retailer participates in countless environmental conservation initiatives including beach clean-ups, Earth Hour, Car Free Day and numerous tree-planting projects.