Meeting the Renewable Energy and Sustainability Challenges in GCC Economies: Masdar Initiative Case Study

Abstract

In considering the common future challenges confronting the GCC countries, renewable energy development and energy security concerns are likely to be reviewed one of the most critical issues. These two issues are critical for GCC countries because of the interplay between growing climate change and sustainable development concerns in the wider GCC region and need to promote entrepreneurship and new market development that is consistent with triple bottom line (social, environmental, and economic) value creation. Moreover, what makes climate change and the related energy management issues so important beyond its obvious environmental importance is that the Middle East and the North Africa region has the potential to become an economic power in terms of renewable energy development and technologies (El-Husseini et al. 2010). This chapter highlights the interplay of these two business and policy priorities by exploring the following three issues and questions. First, what are the key social, environmental, and economic/business factors that underlie the renewable energy and sustainability challenges in the GCC countries? Second, how and in what manner does the Masdar Initiative provide a useful case study in addressing the wider GCC renewable energy and sustainability challenges? Third, what are some critical next steps that GCC region needs to focus on in terms of the renewable and sustainability policy dilemmas?