The Missing Piece in the Middle East’s Low-Carbon Future

The Middle East’s construction boom is shaping the carbon footprint of future cities and infrastructure. To turn net-zero ambition into measurable progress, the region needs practical, locally calibrated carbon guidance, shared benchmarks and verified data that reflect local markets, supply chains and climate conditions.

United Arab Emirates | 25 August 2026
Reading Time : 5 minutes

The Middle East is not just building projects; it is shaping the carbon footprint of future cities, infrastructure, and communities for decades to come. Across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), MEED reports planned infrastructure projects are valued at around US$3.10 trillion, spanning mega-developments, coastal cities, transport networks, and cultural landmarks. With the built environment responsible for roughly 40% of global greenhouse gas emissions, the decisions made today on materials, design, construction, and operations will determine whether this growth supports, or slows, the region’s transition to a lower-carbon future.

Carbon guidance is no longer a niche technical issue for sustainability teams. It is becoming a strategic question for governments, developers, investors, designers, contractors, and suppliers: how can the region continue to build at pace while proving that climate commitments are being translated into measurable action?

The Middle East has already shown initiative through commitments such as the Arab Ministerial Declaration on climate change and the Arab Climate Change Action Plan, alongside regional sustainability rating systems including Estidama in Abu Dhabi, Mostadam in Saudi Arabia, and GSAS in Qatar and Kuwait. The next opportunity is to build on this progress with regionally calibrated carbon management guidance, in simple terms, practical rules and benchmarks that reflect local markets, supply chains, climate conditions, and the pace of urbanisation.

As Gulf countries accelerate efforts to achieve net-zero commitments, standardised and evidence-based carbon frameworks offer a way to move from ambition to accountability. They can help reduce reliance on imported assumptions, close practice gaps, support better project decisions, and give clients, communities, and investors greater confidence that progress is real, measurable, and comparable.

Regional guidance is essential as global standards show the way

It is encouraging to see the introduction of the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard, a formal, science-led, performance-based standard developed by the UK construction industry through unprecedented collaboration. Its credibility rests on an extensive pilot programme spanning 205 projects and 134 property owners, which generated more than 17,000 data points. There is clear ambition that the Middle East region will follow suit.

While the UK Standard is strictly applicable only to buildings within the United Kingdom, it provides an instructive precedent for what regional leadership on carbon standards can achieve: unified definitions, evidence-based limits, third-party verification, and a clear pathway from ambition to accountability.

Recent proposed guideline by Mohamed H. Mahmoud, Associate, Ground Engineering, and Andy Veall, Structural Design Director, Building Structures Design, WSP in the Middle East, adds to this conversation by proposing a regionally relevant strategy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Middle East construction. Published in the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers – Civil Engineering, the article highlights the need for carbon guidance that reflects local supply chains, climate conditions, market maturity, and the scale of development underway across the region.

What is promising is that the Middle East now has both the blueprint (proposed guidance tailored to regional realities) and the global example (a verified standard from the UK). The next step is collaboration of professional bodies, asset owners, and industry to formalise, resource, and implement regionally calibrated carbon management frameworks.

What both frameworks show us

Both approaches point to the same conclusion: carbon reduction needs to be designed into projects early, measured consistently, and supported by reliable data. Put simply, the industry needs to know where emissions come from, how to reduce them, and how to prove that reduction has happened. The Middle East guidance and the UK's Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard share substantial common ground, as both:

Adopt a whole-life carbon perspective, which means looking at emissions across the full life of an asset, from raw material extraction through to end-of-life reuse or demolition.
Recognise that the design and early construction stages offer the greatest opportunity to reduce emissions.
Call for transparent, verified environmental data from manufacturers, primarily through Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), which are independently checked documents that show the environmental impact of a product.
Use carbon intensity (kgCO2e/m2) as a common benchmarking metric, meaning the amount of carbon emissions associated with each square meter of a building or asset.
Emphasise early, whole-value-chain collaboration among owners, designers, contractors and suppliers.
Are grounded in established methodologies, notably PAS 2080 and the RICS Whole Life Carbon Assessment methodology, which give project teams a structured way to measure, manage, and reduce carbon across buildings and infrastructure.

There is, however, one key difference between the two, and it is the one that matters most. The Middle East guidance offers a helpful set of principles that point projects in the right direction, but following it is a choice rather than a requirement. The UK Standard goes further. It sets clear, measurable expectations for what a low-carbon building must deliver, and it asks for that performance to be independently confirmed once the building is up and running. This is the real turning point: moving from encouraging good practice to proving it. Closing that gap is what will give clients, communities, and investors genuine confidence that a "net zero" building lives up to its name, rather than simply claiming to.

What it means for governments and city authorities

Governments and city authorities are in a unique position to shape how projects are delivered. By setting clear expectations from the very beginning, they can make sure that new developments are not only built on time and on budget but also deliver lasting value for people and the environment. Three practical steps can make a real difference.

First, sustainability goals should be built into projects from day one. When the ambition to reduce emissions is agreed at the outset and written into project agreements, everyone involved knows what they are working towards. This turns good intentions into commitments that can be measured and delivered.
Second, authorities can may suppliers to be open about the environmental impact of their materials. When this information is available, project teams can compare their options and choose the ones that reduce emissions, support local industry, and still meet cost and quality expectations.
Third, technology should help teams keep track of progress as a project develops. Modern digital tools make it possible to see the impact of design choices early, spot opportunities to improve, and stay on course, so that the finished development lives up to its original ambition.

This is where policy leadership and industry collaboration become critical. To make carbon management practical, comparable, and credible across the region, industry and professional bodies can help formalise regional carbon standards by:

Investing in regional embodied carbon databases tailored to Middle Eastern manufacturing, supply chains, and climate contexts. Embodied carbon refers to emissions linked to making, transporting, installing, maintaining, and eventually disposing of materials. The need is tangible: locally sourced steel EPDs range from 1,120 to 2,413 kgCO2e per tonne.
Mandating carbon reporting and benchmarking for public infrastructure projects, using kgCO2e/m2 as a standard unit so that projects can be compared consistently.
Establishing third-party verification frameworks, meaning independent checks that confirm whether reported carbon performance is accurate, credible, and comparable.

These measures are not just theory. They are already making a difference on real projects. By rethinking how the built environment is designed and built, teams across the region have avoided tens of thousands of tonnes of carbon emissions, with significant savings achieved on Middle East projects. In practice, this means lower-carbon, more resilient and more sustainable developments, delivered without compromising quality or cost.

Regional initiatives

Positive steps are already emerging across the region. The UAE Climate-Responsible Companies Pledge, introduced at COP28, encourages the private sector to commit to net-zero emissions by developing credible transition strategies, obtaining third-party validation, and reporting transparently on carbon performance over time. In practice, this helps create the conditions for companies, suppliers, and project teams to share better environmental data and work together toward net-zero goals.

In addition, such a charter or a similar body could help enhance capabilities, facilitate knowledge sharing, and actively promote collaboration in the following ways:

Training professionals on whole life carbon assessment and regional guidance.
Creating cross-industry working groups to develop regional benchmarking, share best practices, and build consensus on methodologies.
Engaging manufacturers and suppliers to accelerate EPD development and transparency.

These initiatives suggest that the gap between ambition and action is beginning to close. The UK Standard shows that industry-led, science-based frameworks are achievable. The Middle East has a blueprint. What is now needed is collective will, supported by practical tools and recognised methodologies such as PAS 2080:2023, which helps different stakeholders work together to manage carbon across the full life of an asset.

Forward Look

The region is moving in the right direction, but the next stage requires more than individual commitments or project-by-project best practices. To make low-carbon delivery the norm, there remains a need to:

Establish a formal Middle East Net Zero Carbon Standard, developed collaboratively by industry, government, and academia, with regionally calibrated upfront carbon and operational energy limits.
Develop regional embodied carbon databases covering key materials (steel, concrete, glass, aluminium) with verified EPDs reflecting local manufacturing technologies.
Encourage mandatory carbon reporting for public infrastructure projects, with benchmarking published annually to drive performance improvement.

The main question is not whether the region needs more standards, but whether its next generation of cities, infrastructure, and developments can be delivered with the credibility, accountability, and long-term value that climate ambition now demands.

The prize is significant: enhanced competitiveness, innovation, cost savings, and resilience. The Middle East has an opportunity to lead.
Across the Middle East, the UK, and other global markets, WSP has seen first-hand that carbon management becomes most effective when it is embedded early, measured consistently, and supported by practical collaboration across the value chain.

The question now is not whether regional carbon guidance is needed; it is when and how quickly it will be formalised. WSP remains committed to working with clients, governments, and industry partners to turn vision into reality.

The future is low carbon. The framework exists. The time to act is now.