Embedding Sustainability in Urban Road and Bridge Infrastructure: A Standards-Anchored Maturity Assessment of Dubai's Development Programme

Embodied carbon within a city’s infrastructure resides predominantly within road and bridge
assets but sustainability assessment of urban transport authorities typically focuses upon the
sustainability of fleets and operations rather than the sustainability of their infrastructure
delivery. The study examines and compares sustainability embedding throughout the lifecycle
of Dubai’s road and bridge development programme against five global urban transport
authorities. The research applies a case study design with comparative policy benchmarking
using a Sustainability Embedding Maturity Rubric of four pillars and sixteen indicators drawn
from a range of recognized sustainability standards and guidance including PAS 2080, ISO
14001, ISO 20400, EN 15978, Envision, BREEAM Infrastructure, the IS Rating Scheme, the
GRI Standards and ISAE 3000. The study focuses solely upon public documentation and does
not seek additional information from the authorities under review. Where documentation exists,
each cell is scored as documented present or documented absent. Where documentation does
not exist for a particular cell, the cell is not scored and this is noted against the authority’s total.
37 of 96 cells have been scored as containing documented information. Dubai’s road and bridge
asset program contains documentation of the program’s Organizational Mechanisms (national
sustainability framework, certified sustainable procurement policy, project waste target and
GRI assured sustainability reporting). However, the same program contains no documentation
of carbon related mechanisms at the road and bridge asset’s infrastructure stage (a target date
and a capital carbon baseline for road and bridge assets). Two of the Authorities reviewed (both
who have adopted a named instrument, either PAS 2080, the Sustainable Design Guidelines
and Net Zero policy or MKI/DuboCalc) contain documentation of the design-stage carbon
assessment and carbon weighted tendering process. Singapore contains documentation of the
tender weighting and material mandates for sustainable construction as reported by the
authority.