Fast Company | MENA can’t win the climate race without fixing its funding flaws. Do we need a new model?

• 6 Jan 2026

There’s a growing consensus that we are hitting the limits of the climate-finance playbook — the long-term pledges, the giant coalitions, and the initiatives. They did their job in putting climate on the business agenda, but we’re now bumping into the ceiling of those strategies.

From the lead-up to COP27 in Egypt to the run-up to COP28 in Dubai, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region was abuzz with net-zero pledges and climate alliances. Two years later, the appetite for funding a green transition has waned, and the region’s green-economy mood has cooled. Annual investment is less than half of what’s needed this decade for the region to stay on track for net zero by 2050.

“Over the past few years, we have seen a wave of public commitments across the region—from governments, corporates, and investors alike—all pledging to accelerate action on climate. Yet turning those promises into real climate finance at scale has been painfully slow. The truth is, momentum stalls when there is not enough pressure, transparency, or accountability to ensure follow-through,” says Jessica Robinson, Partner at Solve Strategies.

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