Gulf Transition and Sustainable Finance 2025 conference round-up

Nearly 18 months after the UAE hosted the mammoth COP28 summit, Environmental Finance's focused and thoughtful new event in Abu Dhabi highlighted a region ready to pitch a pragmatic but proactive approach to the transition. Ahren Lester reports

More than 150 local and regional market experts joined the engaging discussions at the debut Environmental Finance Gulf Transition & Sustainable Finance event in Abu Dhabi, which highlighted that the region has critical role to play in regional and global transition finance.

With 26 speakers from leading investors, banks, corporates and service providers, as well as high profile government and regulatory officials, the audience was offered a rich and varied set of insights on the challenges and opportunities facing sustainable finance markets in the region.

Time and time again, panellists and attendees raised the potential for the Gulf to offer a "pragmatic" approach to transition financing to support global goals.

In the context of an increasingly reactionary global debate on sustainability, there was a strong sense that this 'pragmatic potential' is ready to play a core role in consolidating the existing progress in sustainable finance, while catalysing the next phase towards a fully inclusive and extensive transition finance

As NinetyOne Middle East co-head Nicolaas Alberts explained, the Gulf "holds the key to an orderly transition globally" through its pragmatic approach, which means the "importance of this region is coming to the fore" as geopolitics dampen appetite for sustainable finance globally.

But what was clear is that this pragmatic approach is not a euphemism for watered down ambition, but a proactive recognition that the journey many regions – including the Gulf – must take to transition.

Like many developing regions, for example, the Gulf faces acute challenges around ensuring a 'just transition' in its shift away from fossil fuels and tackling hard-to-abate sectors. Unlike many others in a similar situation, however, it is also clear it has the resources, resolve, and rule-makers to try and determine a course others can follow, or support the activities that other need to pursue.

And this was also apparent throughout the day. Crédit Agricole Corporate & Investment Bank (CA-CIB) global sustainability head Tanguy Claquin described the "very high innovation and enthusiasm mode" the region was in when it comes to sustainable finance.

And this is feeding ambition, not only to stimulate growth in existing sustainable finance markets, such as sustainable bonds, but also play the role of the 'Silicon Valley' of sustainable finance. In addition, this pragmatism is also helping the region to identify and act on some of the additional nuances that are sometimes undervalued in the sustainable finance markets to date – including the 'just transition'.

Certainly, the Gulf countries have already moved at pace to recognise the multi-faceted climate risks facing their economies. But also – more importantly – they have been proactive in identifying and acting upon transition opportunities.

The conference suggested that a region that often can seem shut out of global sustainable finance conversations is ready to listen and learn from practical approaches taken elsewhere in the world.

After the success of this inaugural conference, Environmental Finance is looking forward to further news, views and events in the region to help catalyse this potentially transformative role the Gulf can play in global sustainable finance growth and progress.

As with elsewhere in the world, there are many headwinds to transition and sustainable finance. Yet it was refreshing that the level of optimism and ambition in the region around the sustainable finance opportunity is strong, and is strengthening.

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