ARAM GROUP CASE STUDY – Enhancing ESG Reporting in UAE

Client is one of the leading investment companies in the Middle East for over 49+ years with headquarters in Sharjah, UAE. Operating as a diversified conglomerate with core investments in real estate, properties rental, and financial instruments, the client consistently seeks to harness emerging market opportunities to drive innovation and maintain excellence. Even though the client had prior experience with ESG reporting, they faced evolving challenges including navigating the increasing complexity of GRI Standards and ADX ESG disclosure guidelines, ensuring accurate data collection, verification, and consolidation across diverse operations for metrics like energy, water, emissions, waste, procurement, and human resources, integrating ESG considerations more deeply into core business strategy and risk management, meeting heightened stakeholder demands for transparency and measurable sustainability performance, and lacking dedicated internal resources with specialized, up-to-date ESG reporting expertise.

HLB HAMT assigned experienced ESG consultants familiar with GRI standards, ADX regulations, and the UAE context. We worked closely with the client's internal teams to understand their operations, data sources, and specific reporting needs. We ensured rigorous adherence to the selected GRI Standards framework and ADX disclosure metrics and provided advisory on materiality assessment, KPI selection, and aligning ESG initiatives with business goals. Our solutions included GRI Reporting Implementation where we guided the client through the data collection, analysis, and reporting process for all relevant GRI Universal and Topic Standards, including environmental metrics (energy, water, emissions, waste), social metrics (employment, diversity, safety, community engagement, supplier practices), and governance metrics (ethics, compliance, tax transparency). We provided Data Verification & System Advisory, advising on best practices for ESG data management, verification, and potential use of technology for improved accuracy and efficiency. We ensured Compliance Assurance, ensuring the final ESG report met the requirements of both GRI and ADX, enhancing regulatory compliance. We also provided Stakeholder Communication Support, assisting in structuring the report narrative to effectively communicate the client's ESG performance, strategy, and achievements to stakeholders.

The implementation delivered enhanced reporting quality with a comprehensive and compliant 2024 ESG report meeting international (GRI) and local (ADX) standards. We achieved improved transparency & trust, increasing stakeholder confidence through robust, verifiable ESG disclosures. Regulatory compliance was ensured, adhering to mandatory ADX ESG reporting requirements. Strategic alignment was facilitated, enabling better integration of ESG factors into ARAM Group's business strategy and risk management framework. The process achieved significant efficiency, streamlining the reporting process by leveraging HLB HAMT's expertise and structured approach. Specific achievements included 68.57% fuel reduction, 30.42% water reduction, and 100% local senior management hires.