A new socio-technology platform aimed at fast-tracking environment assessments and helping global businesses save thousands of staff hours reporting environmental conditions and performance has been launched.

The Indicator Reporting Information System-3 (IRIS-3) platform is available as a remotely-hosted or intranet app and is expected to make the assessment and reporting of environmental information at local, national, regional and global scales “easier, faster and more unified”.

It has been developed under the Abu Dhabi Global Environmental Data Initiative by its founding partners Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

UNEP believes IRIS – which uses indicators to automatically convert data collected from an organisation’s routine environmental monitoring programmes into a standardised report – has the potential to transform state-of-environment reporting.

The IRIS-3 platform, for the first time, is available with automatic end-to-end reporting and organisations are being invited to register their interest to use it free of charge.

Dr Shaikha Salem Al Dhaheri, Secretary General of the EAD said: “IRIS will allow us to automate the process of reporting on the state and trends in the environment whilst ensuring the deep local knowledge of our scientists is embedded in the report narrative. I believe this system has the potential to transform the way countries report to stakeholders and will contribute to progress in national, regional and global efforts to protect and preserve our environment for future generations.

“The launch of IRIS-3 is an exciting moment and I am proud of Abu Dhabi’s central role in innovating this game-changing globally-deployable technology. It is part of our nearly two-decade long commitment to equip policymakers with actionable, timely information to inform and guide critical decisions towards a sustainable future.”