Oman ranked sixth in circularity on a 17-country Middle East and Africa Environmental Sustainability Scorecard, which is the most detailed examination to date of country performance in environmental sustainability outcomes, government policies and corporate practices in the two regions, released on the eve of 53rd Oman National Day.
According to the report that compared government and business sustainability policies, investment and actions across the Middle East and Africa, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are doing the most in the GCC to fight climate change in several key areas despite their fossil fuel dependency. The study concludes that the GCC Nations are leading the Middle East, Africa in Most Sustainability Measures.
In terms of Environmental Ecosystems, which examines air, soil and water pollution, along with conservation and biodiversity, Kuwait came with fifth position while Bahrain performed well with third rank in Circularity, a measure of resource-use efficiency and waste management, along with Oman.
The report was commissioned by Agility, a global supply chain services company based in Kuwait and it was compiled by Horizon Group, a Geneva-based firm that specialises in research and analysis for governments, international organisations and leading businesses worldwide.
“From the study, we could gather that all six hydrocarbon-intensive GCC countries are at the bottom of the 17-nation ranking in Energy Transition, which looks at energy supply, and renewable energy use, subsidies and taxes, along with energy-transition agendas at national and corporate levels. Leaders in Energy Transition are Uganda, Nigeria, Rwanda, Kenya and South Africa,” a spokesperson from the research team said.
The scorecard used 48 performance and progress indicators to compare countries. The indicators include data, regulatory frameworks, policy assessments, incentives and corporate practices across six pillar areas such as green investment and technology, sustainable infrastructure and transport, governance and reporting, energy transition, environmental ecosystems and circularity. To capture corporate practices and progress, Horizon surveyed 647 business executives in the 17 countries.
The research also touched upon ‘Sustainable Infrastructure and Transport’, ‘Energy Transition’, ‘Environmental Ecosystem’, ‘Green Investment’, ‘Innovation and Technology’, and ‘Governance and Reporting’.
He further said that the GCC countries are investing heavily in sustainable development, which will spur their economic growth as the current World Bank projections forecast combined GCC economic output to be $6 trillion by 2050. But embracing a strategic green growth approach to economic diversification could potentially elevate this figure to over $13 trillion.
The scorecard report comes just as the COP28, the UN-led global climate change conference, is convening from November 30 to December 12 in Dubai where Oman is a key partner and will present papers to the global partners. Its findings are expected to reinforce those in a World Economic Forum (WEF) report, issued in October, on decarbonisation and energy transition in the MENA region.
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