Shining GreenLight on the construction industry 

The Middle East, more specifically Saudi Arabia, is investing heavily in capital projects such as Neom, Red Sea Global, ROSHN and various downtown development projects. Moreover, the region has played host to major events; notably the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, Expo 2020 in the United Arab Emirates and COP28 which will be hosted in 2023 at Expo City in Dubai. 

These international events, which gain millions of visitors, gave rise to interesting dynamics in the region as they attempt to fulfill the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and several Middle Eastern countries’ visions for the future. These visions include growth and development objectives for the region as well as governments commitments to achieving Net Zero emissions by 2050 for Oman and the UAE or by 2060 for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Bahrain. 

Embedded carbon, which stems from construction materials used in the region, has one of the highest rates of carbon emissions in the industry and is therefore the hardest to abate in the Middle East. Indeed, new innovative technologies and supply chain solutions would allow companies to mitigate and minimize carbon emissions. 

As the world attempts to recover from the pandemic and plan for the upcoming global recession by carefully allocating capital and resources, we have found that there needs greater clarity on how to decarbonize giga-projects and large infrastructure projects, while planning capital expenditure over the next 30-40 years. Deloitte has therefore developed a set of tools that aim to help industries shine light (or rather, ‘GreenLight’) on how to decarbonize one of the most energy intensive industries on the planet. 

The Decarb Solution relies on leading scientific information and methodologies, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) RCP pathways, the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) Shared Socio-Economic scenarios, and the Science-Based Target (SBT) methodologies. Relying on these methodologies allows the industry to draw scientifically based and accurate abatement pathways to help define your strategic objectives and decarbonization goals which will bolster the level of transparency and reliability in the construction sector. The pathway to decarbonization and the goal to meet net zero will only be achieved if we rely on science-based methodologies. To attain your objectives, our GreenLight tool takes into account emissions from materials, supply chains as well as assets’ end of life.

Our GreenLight tool is an efficient digital solution which can help the construction industry capture all emissions across your value chain, establish science based and verified reduction pathways, assess the various abatement projects and capital allocation processes, and plan and report to various external and internal stakeholders on your progress.

Read the full report: 2023 Construction Report