Decree No. 1 of 2024 requires Abu Dhabi facilities that discharge to the environment to report to EAD every first quarter, on ten templates, through an EAD-approved consultant.
Introduction
Every year, in the first quarter, permitted facilities in Abu Dhabi owe the Environment Agency, Abu Dhabi (EAD) an environmental data report. It covers what the site discharged to air, water and land, what waste it produced, which restricted chemicals it handled, and how much fuel, electricity and water it used. EAD collects it on ten templates, and it must be prepared by a consulting office that EAD has approved.
It gets less attention than greenhouse gas reporting. It is broader, it is annual, and it already applies.
What the Self-Monitoring and Reporting Programme is
The Self-Monitoring and Reporting Programme (SMRP) is EAD’s standard framework under which permitted facilities monitor their own emissions and discharges, keep the records, and report them to the Agency. EAD describes it as part of its environmental assessment and permitting initiative.
It was launched publicly on 10 November 2023, covering 45 sectors. Monitoring requirements are set by each sector’s expected pollutants and by each facility’s risk, and EAD’s own phrasing is that facilities with lower risk have lower requirements. The aim is a unified, emirate-wide database of emission and discharge sources. The programme has a longer history than its launch date suggests: EAD reported in 2021 that it had reviewed nine technical guidance documents and developed a self-reporting programme for the iron and steel sector.
The legal basis: Decree No. (1) of 2024
The programme became a legal duty with Decree No. (1) of 2024 on environmental data reporting, issued by H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan in his capacity as Chairman of EAD and announced on 7 April 2024.
Who it applies to. All establishments and projects operating in the emirate that are licensed by EAD, or that EAD requires to comply. Those whose activities result in discharges to the environment must report. EAD’s programme page puts it in permit terms: all facilities holding an environmental permit are required to submit their annual monitoring reports.
When. An environmental data report is submitted to EAD during the first quarter of each year, as per EAD’s requirements.
What it must contain. Under the decree, the report covers:
- consumption of energy and water
- measurements of pollutants discharged to the environment
- the facility’s data, its operating methods, processes, equipment, machinery and technology
- discharges made, compared against the maximum permissible discharge limits
- raw materials used as production inputs
- procedures for controlling discharges
- measurement methods, frequency and locations
- results, accidents that accompanied measurement, and the corrective measures taken
What EAD decides. The decree leaves EAD to set which facilities report and what data they report, the reporting channels (which may be electronic), the laboratories to be used and the measurement methods and devices it approves, and the technical guides that sit under the decree. EAD reviews each report against those requirements, evaluates facilities on their individual and cumulative impact, and maintains an integrated discharge database shared with the authorities that issue licences.
The ten Electronic Data Deliverables
EAD collects SMRP data on ten Electronic Data Deliverable (EDD) templates, published on its programme page as macro-enabled Excel workbooks. Each has defined fields, look-up lists and checks on mandatory entries. A facility completes the ones that match its monitoring requirements.
| # | Template | What the facility reports |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Air Results | Stack and ambient air results by station: parameter, value, unit, method, and whether by continuous emissions monitoring or manual test, checked against Abu Dhabi Specification ADS 19/2017 or international limits |
| 2 | Ambient Water Results | Marine and surface water quality against general use and marine protected area limits |
| 3 | Liquid Discharge | Effluent quality against discharge limits |
| 4 | Groundwater | Groundwater quality by depth |
| 5 | Waste Management | Waste by project phase (construction, operation, decommissioning, demolition), category, state, quantity, management method, collector, frequency and disposal site |
| 6 | Soil Results | Soil contamination against screening and clean-up values by land use |
| 7 | Marine Sediment | Sediment quality |
| 8 | Ecology Results | Terrestrial, marine and freshwater survey records by species, habitat and method |
| 9 | Annual Resource Consumption | Fuel, electricity and water consumed in the year |
| 10 | Annual Restricted Chemicals | Restricted chemicals imported, produced and consumed in the year, with quantities and units |
Templates 1 to 8 hold monitoring results, and their quality depends on the sampling, the laboratory and the method. Templates 9 and 10 are annual totals, and their quality depends on the facility’s own records.
Template 9: the one that overlaps with everything else
Template 9, Annual Resource Consumption, is the energy and water half of the report. Each row is a resource (fuel, energy or water), a type, a year, an annual amount and a unit:
- Fuel: natural gas, petrol and diesel, in volume or mass per year
- Energy: electricity
- Water: fresh water, marine water and groundwater
Where a value falls outside the range the template expects, the facility is asked to add a comment explaining it.
This is the template that connects the SMRP to every other energy and carbon obligation a facility has. The fuel quantities in Template 9 are the activity data behind the Scope 1 figure in Abu Dhabi’s facility-level GHG MRV. The electricity figure is the basis of a Scope 2 inventory. And the same fuel, electricity and water records are the starting point of any energy audit.
The case for collecting this data once, to one standard, is set out in one year of energy data, four obligations.
Who has to prepare it
The decree is explicit: the report must be prepared by an environmental consulting office approved by EAD to qualify for submission.
Approval is governed by EAD Resolution No. (4) of 2025 on the approval and registration of environmental consultancy offices, announced on 16 May 2025. It applies to every environmental consultancy office, existing or new, whether environmental consulting is its only activity or one of several. Its main conditions:
- the office director holds relevant academic qualifications and practical experience matching the scope of work
- the office has a qualified technical team and modern tools and technology
- the office operates from a physical headquarters with a valid licence within the emirate
Applications include staff qualifications and experience, a record of completed projects and samples of previous studies. Approval comes with a classification by area of practice, and EAD reviews performance annually and can upgrade, downgrade, suspend or revoke it. Approved offices must avoid conflicts of interest and keep confidentiality and impartiality.
Obligations that run all year
The report is annual. Several duties under the decree are continuous:
- Records: keep all documents and data related to reporting for at least five years.
- Defects: inform EAD of any defect that hinders the reporting process within three days of it occurring. A failed analyser or a lost sampling point is a notification, not a footnote in next year’s report.
- Quality plan: develop and implement a plan to assure and monitor quality, with detailed instructions for operational and corrective procedures. EAD may require an approved consulting office to verify that plan and report on its implementation.
- Equipment and methods: provide the devices EAD specifies and use monitoring techniques compatible with its requirements, with analyses at accredited laboratories.
- Training: train employees and workers on the reporting mechanisms.
The first-quarter report is only as good as the eleven months of monitoring, record-keeping and defect notices that came before it.
Enforcement
EAD reviews each report and can require a corrective plan where data is deficient or the facility has not met its requirements. It can order additional examinations at accredited laboratories, collect its own samples, or appoint an approved consulting office to check the accuracy of the data, including in response to a complaint.
Where the decree is breached, EAD can apply one or more of the administrative penalties in Law No. (16) of 2005 regarding the reorganisation of EAD, without prejudice to penalties under other legislation.
Guidance and submission
EAD’s programme page links a Technical Guidance Document on the self-reporting process and the downloadable EDD templates. Submission runs through the channels EAD specifies under the decree. For questions on the environmental monitoring plan, the programme’s mandatory requirements or the EDDs, EAD’s page gives [email protected].
How the SMRP sits next to GHG MRV
Both reports go to EAD and both land in the first quarter. They are still separate regimes. The SMRP rests on Decree No. (1) of 2024, covers discharges, waste, chemicals and resource use, and is prepared by an approved consulting office. Facility GHG MRV rests on Article 6 of Federal Decree-Law No. 11 of 2024 and EAD Resolution No. (03) of 2026, covers Scope 1 carbon dioxide and methane, is filed by 31 March through EAD’s MRV portal, and is verified by an accredited verifier from Reporting Year 2026. The side-by-side comparison, with the permit and the Climate Law penalties, is in Abu Dhabi environmental compliance on one page.
Preparing for the first-quarter report
- Confirm your monitoring requirements. Your permit and EAD’s sector requirements decide which templates apply and how often each parameter is measured. Settle this before the year starts, not in February.
- Appoint the approved office early. Check its EAD approval and classification, agree what it needs from you, and agree when.
- Map each template to an owner and a source. Stack results from the laboratory, waste from collector manifests, fuel from invoices and meters, chemicals from purchasing and stores.
- Hold resource data at the finest grain. Meter and invoice level, monthly, with electricity in MWh. Reconcile it to the figures you use for GHG MRV and any corporate inventory so the same site does not report two different fuel totals.
- Run the defect log all year. Record every monitoring interruption and the date EAD was told.
- Keep the evidence for five years, indexed so that any figure in a template can be traced to its source document.
- Review before submission. Check values outside the template’s expected ranges and write the explanation while the facts are fresh.
How ESGweise helps
ESGweise prepares the data and evidence behind the report. That covers fuel, electricity and water inventories built to a standard that also serves GHG MRV, monitoring plan and record-keeping design, waste and resource data mapping to the EDD templates, and pre-submission review of the figures.
The report itself must be prepared by an EAD-approved environmental consulting office, so a facility needs one, and ESGweise works on the data that office relies on. We also carry out energy audits, Scope 1 and 2 carbon accounting and GHG verification readiness, support environmental management systems through ISO implementation, and provide independent assurance of corporate sustainability reporting under ISAE 3000 and ISO 14064-3.
References and sources
- EAD, Self-Monitoring and Reporting Programme, including the Technical Guidance Document link, the Electronic Data Deliverables and the permitting contact
- EAD, SMRP Electronic Data Deliverables, ten templates (EAD download, package dated 25 November 2024)
- Abu Dhabi Media Office, EAD launches self-reporting programme to assess environmental impacts, 10 November 2023
- Abu Dhabi Media Office, Hamdan bin Zayed issues resolution on reporting environmental data in the emirate, Decree No. (1) of 2024, 7 April 2024
- WAM, Hamdan bin Zayed issues resolution on reporting environmental data, April 2024
- Abu Dhabi Media Office, EAD issues resolution on approval and registration of environmental consultancy offices, Resolution No. (4) of 2025, 16 May 2025
- Abu Dhabi Media Office, EAD 2021 update, 2021
- Law No. (16) of 2005 regarding the reorganisation of the Environment Agency, Abu Dhabi
Conclusion
EAD’s annual environmental data report is the broadest environmental return an Abu Dhabi facility files. It covers air, water, land, waste, chemicals and resources, it is due every first quarter, and the decree puts it in the hands of an EAD-approved consulting office.
The deadline is the visible part. The work that decides the report’s quality runs all year: monitoring to approved methods, defects notified within three days, records kept for five years, and resource data held in enough detail to serve the GHG report and the energy audit as well as Template 9.
Frequently asked questions
Who has to submit EAD's annual environmental data report?
Establishments and projects in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi whose activities result in discharges to the environment, where they are licensed by EAD or required by EAD to comply with Decree No. (1) of 2024. EAD's programme page states that all facilities holding an environmental permit are required to submit their annual monitoring reports. Requirements are set by sector and scaled to the facility's risk.
When is the report due?
During the first quarter of each year, under Decree No. (1) of 2024. In practice that means by the end of March, which is the same month the facility-level GHG MRV report falls due for facilities covered by that scheme.
Can our own environmental team prepare and submit the report?
Your team will hold most of the data, but the decree requires the report to be prepared by an environmental consulting office approved by EAD for it to qualify for submission. Resolution No. (4) of 2025 governs approval, and establishments and projects may only use offices approved and registered with EAD.
What are the ten Electronic Data Deliverables?
Air Results, Ambient Water Results, Liquid Discharge, Groundwater, Waste Management, Soil Results, Marine Sediment, Ecology Results, Annual Resource Consumption, and Annual Restricted Chemicals. A facility completes the templates that match its monitoring requirements; not every template applies to every site.
Is the annual environmental data report the same as Abu Dhabi's GHG MRV report?
No. The environmental data report sits under Decree No. (1) of 2024 and covers discharges, waste, chemicals and resource use. GHG MRV sits under Article 6 of Federal Decree-Law No. 11 of 2024 and EAD Resolution No. (03) of 2026, covers Scope 1 carbon dioxide and methane, and is verified by an accredited verifier from Reporting Year 2026. The fuel data overlaps; the regimes do not.
What happens if the report is late, incomplete or wrong?
EAD can require a corrective plan where data is deficient or requirements are not met, and can apply the administrative penalties set out in Law No. (16) of 2005, without prejudice to penalties under other legislation. EAD can also order additional testing at accredited laboratories or appoint an approved consulting office to check the accuracy of the data received.