Saudi Arabia at forefront of sustainability initiatives in GCC: report

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar are at the forefront of leading sustainability initiatives in the Gulf Cooperation Council region as they actively address climate challenges despite a dependency on fossil fuels, a new report has revealed.

Commissioned by logistics firm Agility, the report compares government and business sustainability policies, investments, and actions across 17 countries in the Middle East and Africa.

The report aims to provide a detailed examination of the country’s performance in environmental sustainability outcomes, government policies, and corporate practices in the two regions.

“As a supply chain operator and investor in the Middle East and Africa, we want to know what governments and businesses are prioritizing and where they’re putting resources in the climate change battle,” said Tarek Sultan, vice chairman of Agility.

“We want to know who we can partner with in green infrastructure and transport, alternative fuels, and supply chain services that reduce environmental impact without sacrificing performance,” Sultan added.

The report highlighted that 82 percent of African and 49 percent of Middle Eastern businesses are unaware of the UN-led COP process that nations are using to push and measure efforts to tackle climate change.

It also explained how the environmental crisis is negatively affecting businesses. This comes as 97 percent of firms say their company has been affected by climate change, and 49 percent say the issue has caused “severe damage” or has a “significant and growing” impact on them.

Additionally, the report reiterates that green investment is expensive. High and middle-income countries, namely, Qatar, UAE, Morocco, and Saudi Arabia, invest the most.

According to the summary, governments are outpacing the private sector regarding climate action in both the Middle East and Africa.

It also noted that various countries have unique sustainability priorities based on income, economic strengths, energy dependency, and other various factors.