Artificial Intelligence could be the key to unlocking an additional $200 billion in sustainable finance for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region by 2030, according to a recent collaborative project by the World Economic Forum (WEF), First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), and Bain & Company Middle East. This significant influx of capital, driven by widespread AI adoption in the financial sector, could help close up to 30% of the region’s total projected sustainability funding gap, which is estimated to reach $675 billion by the end of the decade if current trends continue. The immense investment required for MENA’s transition to Net Zero makes the strategic deployment of AI a critical factor.
The financial sector, with its operational complexity and dependence on vast datasets, is uniquely positioned to benefit from AI-driven tools. The collaborative project identified a range of high-impact use cases demonstrating AI’s potential to revolutionize sustainable finance. A core application involves using AI to scan market developments and announcements, evaluating them against sustainable finance criteria to identify prospective organizations that may require green funding. This prototype was shown to infer keywords, link insights, and unearth opportunities often too nuanced for traditional identification methods, potentially generating a massive return on investment over five years by increasing productivity and capital deployment.
Beyond identifying new opportunities, AI can enhance sustainability efforts across the entire deal life cycle. It can expand the pool of qualified prospects (top of the funnel), improve the speed and accuracy of sustainability scoring, risk analysis, and deal structuring (mid-funnel), and seamlessly identify upsizing and resale opportunities post-deal. This acceleration of investment is vital, as the WEF-led initiative suggests that achieving this $200 billion mobilization could avert more than 60 million metric tons of CO2 through financed projects and create approximately 50,000 new jobs in the sustainable economy. The findings underscore that with projected high growth rates in AI adoption across the sustainable finance market, the technology offers a powerful multiplier effect, transforming the way financial institutions in MENA approach their transition and climate goals.
