Artificial intelligence could generate more than $1 trillion in economic and sustainability value across the Middle East and North Africa by 2030, according to a World Economic Forum report developed with Bain & Company.
The report, Unlocking Value: AI for Resilient Growth in MENA, examines how the region can translate AI ambitions into economic value through practical applications, stronger governance and collaboration across sectors.
The estimated value comprises five areas: up to $200 billion in sustainable financing, $370 billion in sustainable investment flows enabled by the public sector, $250 billion in avoided long-term asset losses, $90 billion in higher energy-sector valuations through improved sustainability performance, and $100 billion in sustainable projects launched through cross-sector partnerships.
The report was developed through the World Economic Forum’s Leaders for a Sustainable MENA community and Bain. It draws on case studies and prototype development involving First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), Bahrain’s Ministry of Sustainable Development, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Economy and Planning.
AI adoption remains below perceived potential
A survey by the MENA Chief Sustainability Officers Network found that 89% of respondents considered AI to have high or very high potential to advance their organisations’ environmental, social and governance goals.
However, only 40% to 55% of respondents, depending on the use case, said their sustainable AI adoption had reached the pilot or scaled stage.
The report identifies three main obstacles: a lack of systematic approaches and robust decision-making processes, difficulties in treating sustainability as a source of value creation, and the use of AI for incremental rather than transformational improvements.
Many organisations also struggle to quantify the financial or sustainability returns on their AI investments.
“The opportunity for MENA is significant, and the value will come from execution,” said Wissam Yassine, partner and Middle East sustainability practice leader at Bain & Company.
“Across finance, energy and the public sector, we are seeing AI use cases that can deliver measurable economic and sustainability impact. Leaders should focus on the areas with the clearest value and move quickly from pilots to scale.”
Banking and public sector applications
FAB, the World Economic Forum and Bain developed the Sustainable Finance Market Pulse, an AI agent that scans thousands of market signals each week to identify potential sustainable finance opportunities.
The report estimates that the tool could generate a return on investment of about 50 to 135 times over five years for FAB.
If the tool and the broader Sustainability Intelligence Platform were deployed across MENA, they could unlock about $200 billion in additional regional sustainable lending by 2030, the report said.
In Bahrain, the Ministry of Sustainable Development, the World Economic Forum and Bain developed SME SMART, an AI-powered sustainability-readiness assessment for small and medium-sized enterprises.
With adoption and implementation of its recommendations, the tool could generate a cumulative valuation increase of $17 million for Bahraini SMEs through 2030. The report estimates that it could deliver up to $3 in overall value for every $1 invested in building the tool.
More broadly, applying AI across the public sector’s sustainable investment value chain could unlock about $370 billion by 2030.
Energy and cross-sector partnerships
In the energy sector, work with ADNOC examined two AI-enabled solutions.
The Resilience Intelligence Suite converts climate-hazard data into actionable insights across interconnected assets and value chains. The Sustainability Performance Navigator analyses sustainability disclosures against environmental, social and governance rating frameworks to identify performance gaps and prioritise actions.
In Saudi Arabia, the Ministry of Economy and Planning worked with the World Economic Forum and Bain on SUSTAIN, an AI-enabled platform designed to match verified organisations with partnership opportunities linked to national development priorities.
Bain’s analysis suggests that the incremental value of financial and non-financial partnership opportunities across MENA could reach $100 billion by 2030.
Report sets out roadmap for sustainable AI
The report recommends that organisations treat sustainability as a source of value creation, use AI to redesign workflows rather than make incremental improvements, and test multiple applications before prioritising those with the greatest potential.
It also calls for closer cooperation between business, technology and sustainability teams, with sustainability leaders given a meaningful role in strategic and technical decisions.
Its five-step roadmap calls on organisations to assess AI maturity, define a sustainable AI ambition, identify and rapidly prototype priority applications, quantify their impact and determine the appropriate scale of deployment, and establish clear governance and accountability.
The report also calls for deeper public-private partnerships, stronger knowledge-sharing networks and continued investment in capabilities.
