Political Economy, Institutional Reform & Inclusive Transition (2025–2028)

The Gulf region is entering a decisive phase of economic transformation. As global markets shift toward low-carbon production, carbon border adjustments intensify, and fiscal pressures increase, the traditional hydrocarbon-anchored growth model faces structural limits. Green industrialisation is no longer a climate option — it is an economic necessity.

The Advancing Green Industrialisation Dynamics in the GCC programme is a three-year strategic research initiative (2025–2028) examining how renewable energy, hydrogen, energy storage, green materials manufacturing, and circular economy industries can evolve into competitive, employment-generating value chains across the region. Anchored in Oman as a reform-oriented case study, the programme adopts a political-economy lens to analyse how governance structures, regulatory systems, public finance models, and industrial policy frameworks shape the transition.

Rather than focusing solely on technology deployment, the programme investigates the institutional foundations of green industrial growth. It examines procurement systems, grid regulation, sovereign wealth fund strategies, local content frameworks, labour market readiness, and cross-border trade coordination. By analysing these structural determinants, the research identifies where reform is required to enable transparent, accountable, and economically viable industrial transformation.

Oman represents both urgency and opportunity. Facing youth unemployment pressures, fiscal adjustment challenges, and a national diversification agenda under Vision 2040, the country is positioning itself as a hub for hydrogen, renewable energy, and clean industrial clusters. The programme studies how these ambitions interact with regulatory realities, investment risks, workforce capabilities, and regional cooperation dynamics — generating lessons relevant across the GCC.

A central pillar of the initiative is structured policy engagement. Outputs will include policy briefs, thematic research papers, a flagship regional report, and academic publications. These will be complemented by internal seminars, public roundtables, and targeted workshops convening government institutions, regulators, sovereign wealth funds, industrial actors, research institutions, and civil society. Through this structured rhythm of dialogue, the programme aims to widen informed participation in economic policymaking and strengthen evidence-based reform pathways.

Importantly, the initiative frames green industrialisation as a socio-economic transformation strategy — not simply a decarbonisation agenda. It evaluates employment multipliers, localisation potential, skill formation systems, investment governance, and long-term competitiveness under emerging global carbon constraints. The goal is to support economic resilience beyond hydrocarbon rents while fostering institutional coherence, regulatory clarity, and inclusive growth.

By integrating technical modelling with political-economy analysis and stakeholder engagement, the programme contributes to building the institutional foundations required for a just, transparent, and economically sustainable energy transition in the Gulf.

Over the 2025–2028 period, the initiative will provide independent, structured evidence to support decision-makers navigating one of the most consequential economic restructurings in the region’s modern history.