Questions, answered

A series of sustainable economy forums held across the Emirates, co-presented by the Clean Energy Business Council (CEBC) with Kai Kata. Each forum grounds policy in science and applies both to the region's highest-impact sectors.

Senior decision-makers working at the intersection of policy, capital and climate, and the firms scaling low-carbon solutions. Attendance is by invitation and complimentary for qualifying attendees. Submit your details and the team confirms availability by email.

Forum 02, Capturing Carbon, is on 18 November 2026 and Forum 03, The Compliance Imperative, on 9 December 2026, both in Dubai with venues to be announced. Forum 04, State of the Climate, follows on 28 January 2027.

They are used to confirm attendance and to create your free MENA Climate membership, which holds your seat confirmations, briefing notes and the public law tracker. You sign in with an emailed link.

Yes. Sponsors get a place in the room and placement across the hub and the forum materials. Speaker proposals are reviewed per forum theme.

All public and private entities, including free zones, must measure greenhouse gas emissions, report to MOCCAE and keep records for five years, adopt reduction measures in line with sector targets, and prepare adaptation plans. The full compliance deadline was 30 May 2026; fines run from AED 50,000 to AED 2 million, doubled on repeat.

Vision 2030 targets 50% renewables in the power mix and about 58.7 GW of renewable capacity by 2030 (40 GW solar PV, 16 GW wind, 2.7 GW CSP), with net zero by 2060. The Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC) is the procurer and offtaker for utility-scale projects.

Through Hydrom, the state master-planner set up in 2022, which auctions land blocks in Duqm and Dhofar. The national strategy targets 1 to 1.25 Mt of green hydrogen a year by 2030. A third auction round of up to 300 km² in Duqm is under way.

A plan to cut emissions 30% by 2035 and reach net zero by 2060, with utility-scale solar and cross-border supply agreements such as the Bapco Energies project with ACWA Power in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province.

It is the licensing basis for private renewable generation and the framework under which Masen and ONEE have authorised wind and solar projects. Morocco targets more than 52% renewables in installed capacity by 2030.

UAE and Oman target 2050; Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Kuwait target 2060. Qatar, Egypt, Morocco, Jordan and Iraq have sector targets but no economy-wide net-zero year on record.

There is no single official list. The World Bank groups 21 countries and territories as MENA: the six GCC states (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE) plus Algeria, Djibouti, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Malta, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia, West Bank and Gaza, and Yemen. Other bodies (UNHCR, FAO, UNICEF) use 18 to 21 countries; some business usage adds Turkey, Sudan or Pakistan. MENA Climate covers 11 priority markets: UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Iraq and North Africa. Source: World Bank regional classification (2003, confirmed 2021).

Mostly hot and arid. Three zones: arid desert (under 250 mm of rain a year, daytime highs above 50°C possible, cold desert nights), semi-arid steppe (250 to 500 mm), and a Mediterranean strip along the coast and in the mountains of the Levant, Turkey and northern Iran with wet winters and snow at altitude. North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula receive under 200 mm a year; the Rub' al Khali can go a decade without rain. Most rain falls in winter, and projections show a "wetter autumn, drier spring" shift. Sources: Lelieveld et al., Climatic Change (2012); Springer, The Middle East Region: Facts on Climate and Water Resources (2026); Scientific Reports (2018).

MENA is an acronym for Middle East and North Africa. The World Bank and UN agencies adopted it to replace the vaguer "Middle East", which has no agreed borders, with a grouping that runs from Morocco in the west to Iran in the east and shares language, trade links, an arid climate and, increasingly, the same climate risks. It is now standard in economics, development, media planning and business. Variants widen it: MENAP adds Afghanistan and Pakistan, MENASA adds South Asia. Source: World Bank; WorldAtlas.

Yes. The World Meteorological Organization's first MENA climate assessment (December 2025) found 2024 was the region's hottest year on record, with temperatures rising at twice the global average and 2024 running 1.08°C above the 1991 to 2020 norm. The Carboun Institute puts the rate at 0.46°C per decade. The World Economic Forum projects the region could be 4°C warmer by 2050 on the current path, affecting 575 million people. Fifteen of the world's most water-scarce countries are in MENA. Sources: WMO (2025); WEF, Closing the climate action gap (2023); Carboun Institute.

On the Institute for Economics and Peace's Global Peace Index 2025, Qatar is the most peaceful country in MENA (27th worldwide, score 1.593), followed by Kuwait (31st), Oman (42nd), the UAE (52nd), Jordan (72nd), Tunisia (81st), Morocco (85th) and Saudi Arabia (90th, the region's largest improvement). On day-to-day crime measures such as Numbeo's Crime Index, the UAE, Qatar and Oman rank among the safest countries in the world. "Safest" depends on the measure: the GPI weighs militarisation and conflict as well as personal safety. Source: Global Peace Index 2025, IEP.

Energy, first of all: the region holds a large share of the world's oil and gas, and the GCC economies are built on it. It is also the most water-scarce region on earth, importing over half of its calories (FAO). In the transition it is known for scale: the world's largest single-site solar park (Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai, 5 GW by 2030), the Barakah nuclear plant (5.6 GW), Masdar's 65 GW global portfolio, Saudi Arabia's 58.7 GW renewables target, Oman's green hydrogen auctions and Morocco's wind and solar programme. And for hosting: COP27 (Egypt, 2022) and COP28 (UAE, 2023), where the UAE Consensus called for transitioning away from fossil fuels. Sources: FAO via Fanack; WGS; MP-IDSA (2026); UNFCCC NDC 3.0.

A CEBC platform in partnership with Kai Kata that convenes business leaders, technical experts and policymakers around focused, solutions-oriented conversations on climate action across the MENA region, through the Degrees in Action forum series and this news, data and law hub. The Initiative launched in Dubai on 7 October 2026 with Forum 01, Building Circularity, hosted by the Emirates Green Building Council.

The UAE was the first Gulf state to adopt a net-zero target (Net Zero by 2050 Strategic Initiative, October 2021) and the first in the region to submit an economy-wide NDC; its third NDC commits to a 40% emissions cut by 2030. Installed renewable capacity passed 7.7 GW (up 117% between 2022 and 2025) and is projected to reach 23 GW by 2031; the clean energy generation target was raised to 35% by 2031. Barakah supplies 5.6 GW of nuclear baseload. Federal Decree-Law No. 11 of 2024 made emissions reporting mandatory for all entities from May 2026. Sources: UAE NDC 3.0 (UNFCCC, 2024); Utilities Middle East (Jan 2026); Economy Middle East (Feb 2026); MOEI.

The Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 (launched 2015) and the Dubai Net Zero Carbon Emissions Strategy 2050 target 25% clean energy by 2030, 50% by 2040 and 100% clean energy production capacity by 2050. The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park is the anchor, targeting more than 5,000 MW by 2030 with AED 50 billion invested; Dubai reached a 16.1% clean energy mix by end-2023 and over 17% in 2026. Other pillars: the AED 100 billion Dubai Green Fund, Shams Dubai rooftop solar (10,000+ buildings), Hatta pumped-storage hydro and a green hydrogen pilot. Sources: World Governments Summit; Lucidity Insights; DEWA.

Morocco targets 52% of installed electricity capacity from renewables by 2030 and 80% by 2050. The share rose from 37% in 2021 to 46% in 2025 (12.2 GW total installed), and 3 GW of new renewable projects were authorised in the first quarter of 2026 alone. Wind is the fastest-growing source (15% of generation in 2025); coal still supplies around 60% of electricity. ONEE's 2025 to 2030 plan adds 15 GW, 88% of it renewable. Sources: Morocco Ministry of Energy Transition via North Africa Post (May 2026); Climate Action Tracker; IEA-PVPS 2025.