Unlocking Value: AI for Resilient Growth in MENA

The report argues that AI could unlock over $1 trillion in value for the MENA region by 2030 by addressing structural barriers in sustainable finance, public sector efficiency, energy resilience, and cross-sector partnerships. Through a series of 'sprints' with regional partners, the report prototypes tools such as FAB's 'Pulse' for sustainable finance discovery, Bahrain's 'SME SMART' for business readiness, ADNOC's 'RIS' and 'SPN' for energy resilience and ESG performance, and Saudi Arabia's 'SUSTAIN' for partnership matching. It concludes that moving from incremental AI improvements to transformational reimagining of workflows is essential for scaling sustainability impact.

• AI has the potential to unlock more than $1 trillion in value for the MENA region by 2030. This includes $200 billion in sustainable financing, $370 billion in public sector-enabled sustainable investment flows, $250 billion in avoided long-term asset losses, $90 billion in energy sector valuation increases, and $100 billion from cross-sector partnerships.
• There is a significant execution gap in the MENA region regarding AI for sustainability; while 89% of the MENA Chief Sustainability Officers Network see high potential for AI to advance ESG goals, only 40% to 55% have reached the 'piloting' or 'scaled' stage of adoption.
• In the financial sector, AI tools like First Abu Dhabi Bank's (FAB) 'Pulse' can automate the identification of sustainable finance opportunities. Scaling such tools across MENA could close up to 30% of the region's sustainable financing gap by 2030 and unlock approximately $200 billion in additional regional sustainable lending.
• For the public sector, AI can enable up to $370 billion in cumulative sustainable investment by 2030. A prototype developed for Bahrain's Ministry of Sustainable Development, 'SME SMART', uses a 'LEAD' framework to assess SME sustainability readiness and could drive $17 million in cumulative valuation uplift for Bahraini SMEs by 2030.
• In the energy sector, AI can shift climate risk analysis from an asset-centric view to a value-chain perspective. ADNOC's 'Resilience Intelligence Suite' (RIS) prototypes this by analyzing how climate hazards propagate across interconnected infrastructure, while the 'Sustainability Performance Navigator' (SPN) converts ESG ratings into structured performance intelligence.
• AI can reduce coordination costs in cross-sector partnerships. Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Economy and Planning developed 'SUSTAIN', an AI-driven matching platform to connect partners for sustainable development. Such partnership platforms could accumulate $100 billion in incremental monetary value for the region by 2030.
• The primary roadblocks to AI adoption for sustainability in MENA are structural rather than technical. The top three barriers are the lack of a systematic approach to decision-making, the failure to treat sustainability as a value creation lever, and a tendency to seek incremental rather than transformational improvements.

APA

World Economic Forum (2026). Unlocking Value: AI for Resilient Growth in MENA. https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Unlocking_Value_AI_for_Resilient_Growth_in_MENA_2026.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. Unlocking Value: AI for Resilient Growth in MENA. 2026. https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Unlocking_Value_AI_for_Resilient_Growth_in_MENA_2026.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=Unlocking Value: AI for Resilient Growth in MENA |date=October 2026 |url=https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Unlocking_Value_AI_for_Resilient_Growth_in_MENA_2026.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2026unlocking, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{Unlocking Value: AI for Resilient Growth in MENA}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2026}, month = oct, url = {https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Unlocking_Value_AI_for_Resilient_Growth_in_MENA_2026.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }