As countries across the Middle East and North Africa accelerate their sustainability ambitions, the built environment has emerged as one of the most critical sectors for delivering meaningful change. With buildings responsible for a significant proportion of global energy use, carbon emissions and resource consumption, the role of building services engineering has never been more pivotal.
For CIBSE (the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers), sustainability is not an optional add-on but a defining principle shaping how buildings are designed, delivered and operated, both now and in the decades ahead. This is particularly relevant for the MENA region, where rapid urbanization, climate extremes and ambitious national net zero commitments demand innovative, performance-led solutions.
From Operational to Whole Life Carbon
Traditionally, sustainability efforts in buildings have focused heavily on operational energy efficiency. While this remains essential, it is no longer sufficient on its own. Increasing attention is now being paid to whole life carbon, including the emissions associated with extraction and transportation of materials, manufacturing of systems and construction processes – often referred to as embodied carbon.
In hot-climate regions such as MENA, where cooling loads dominate and infrastructure is expanding at pace, early design decisions around building services systems can lock in significant carbon impacts for decades. Addressing embodied carbon at the outset is therefore, a critical opportunity to reduce emissions without compromising performance, comfort or resilience.
CIBSE has been at the forefront of this shift, notably through the development of TM65 Embodied Carbon in Building Services, which provides a robust yet practical methodology for calculating and comparing the embodied carbon of building services equipment. TM65 was developed to address a critical gap in the industry: the lack of consistent, comparable embodied carbon data for many building services products. By offering a transparent and repeatable approach, the guidance empowers engineers, designers and clients to make more informed decisions at early design stages—were environmental product declarations (EPDs) are not yet available.
Recognizing that regional contexts significantly influence construction practices, supply chains and carbon factors, CIBSE has further adapted this methodology for the Middle East. The publication of TM65UAE: Embodied Carbon in Building Services – A Methodology for the UAE reflects the specific conditions of the UAE market, including local manufacturing processes, transport distances and energy profiles. This UAE-focused guidance enables practitioners to apply the TM65 framework with greater accuracy and relevance, supporting national sustainability objectives and helping the industry move towards lower carbon building services solutions that are both practical and regionally appropriate.
Supporting Net-Zero Ambitions
Across the MENA region, governments and cities are setting increasingly ambitious net zero targets, supported by major investment in sustainable infrastructure, smart cities and low carbon development. Achieving these goals will rely not only on policy and technology, but on the capability and leadership of the engineering profession.
CIBSE’s guidance on delivering net zero carbon buildings emphasize a whole system approach — integrating energy efficiency, low-carbon technologies, resilient design and long-term performance. For MENA projects, this means designing buildings that respond intelligently to local climatic conditions, reduce energy demand, and prioritize resilience over time.
Importantly, net zero is not a one-size-fits-all solution. Climate, culture, regulation and operational realities vary widely across the region. By combining global best practice with local expertise, building services engineers can help ensure that sustainability strategies are both ambitious and achievable.
Knowledge Sharing and Professional Development
A key part of CIBSE’s sustainability mission is enabling engineers to access the knowledge, skills and tools needed to respond to these challenges. This includes technical guidance, research, training and international collaboration — all designed to support better decision making and higher standards across the profession.
CIBSE’s Sustainability Group plays an active role in advancing debate on climate action, embodied carbon and health and wellbeing, while CIBSE Training continues to expand its sustainability-focused offering for practitioners at all career stages. These resources are increasingly relevant to engineers working on complex, high-profile projects across the MENA region.
In parallel, CIBSE’s Communications Campaign on embodied carbon aims to raise awareness, share case studies and encourage consistent measurement and reporting across the sector. By normalizing conversations around whole life carbon, the industry can move faster towards meaningful reduction rather than incremental improvement.
Collaboration Across Borders
Sustainability challenges do not respect national boundaries. As the MENA region positions itself as a global leader in sustainable development, from large-scale urban regeneration to world-class low-carbon buildings, collaboration between institutions, academia, industry and policymakers is essential.
CIBSE’s international partnerships and growing global membership reflect the increasingly interconnected nature of building services engineering. By sharing knowledge, aligning standards and learning from different regional contexts, the profession can collectively raise the bar on sustainability outcomes.
Looking Ahead
The next decade will be decisive for the built environment. For the MENA region, the opportunity is clear: to deliver buildings and infrastructure that are not only iconic and efficient, but genuinely sustainable across their whole life cycle.
Building services engineers sit at the heart of this transition. Through rigorous standards, evidence-based guidance and a commitment to continuous improvement, CIBSE is supporting the profession to lead on climate action, turning sustainability from aspiration into everyday practice.
As attention shifts from intent to impact, the question is no longer whether the industry can change, but how quickly it can do so. With the right tools, skills and collaboration, the MENA region has the potential to set new benchmarks for sustainable building performance on a global stage.
