His Excellency Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment, said: "In line with the directives of our wise leadership for the UAE to be one of the best countries in the world by 2021, and to keep up with the accelerated efforts of the UAE to implement a green economy approach through the UAE's Green Development Strategy and Green Agenda, we were keen to adopt the best practices for the project, which will serve as a model for the future projects in the region.”

Dr. Al Zeyoudi added that the ministry's environment-friendly building was designed using sustainable materials and technologies that promote energy and water efficiency, and according to international standards that promote the preservation of the environment.

The ministry succeeded in saving about 46% of the water used through utilizing water rationalization techniques, including double flow water tanks and low flow taps. In addition, the building contains a wastewater treatment plant, where this water is used to irrigate the outside plants and green spaces of the building.

In terms of energy efficiency, the building relies on state of the art technologies and environmentally friendly practices to save around 41% of electricity. In addition, the grid of solar panels installed on the roof of the building and the surfaces of parking spaces provide clean, carbon-free energy that covers a significant portion of the building needs. With more than 323 MW/H of electricity annually, the grid helps to improve the internal environment and air quality. The building also contains charging stations for electric cars.

MOCCAE’s new headquarters, which was built in cooperation with the Ministry of Infrastructure Development, the Ministry of Finance and the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa), which installed the solar panels, combines modern architecture with sustainability standards, with more than 75% of the construction done with recycled or reused material. The project is committed to international standards and requirements for green buildings and sustainability, making it compatible with today’s demands and able to provide an appropriate, comfortable and healthy working environment for employees and visitors.

LEED certification is awarded in accordance with standards that ensure that the building is designed and built according to construction regulations that aim at achieving the highest performance in the energy, environment and human aspects. This is achieved through the development of a sustainable building site, preservation of raw materials, water and resources, in addition to energy efficiency, design efficiency and internal environment. The building gets the LEED rating according to the number of points the building has been able to accumulate in line with the requirements and points of each rating, where the platinum is the highest LEED rating.