Climate Change and the GCC: Economic and Environmental Impact

The economies of the GCC countries, having been negatively impacted by Covid-19, now face the longer-term challenge of climate change. Over the coming decades, this phenomenon will affect these countries in several ways. First, there will be direct effects: climate change will bring higher temperatures and humidity, reduced and more erratic precipitation, a rise in sea level and stronger and more frequent storms of various kinds. Higher temperatures and humidity will necessitate the use of more energy for air conditioning and will also put the residents of GCC countries at risk if there are failures in electricity supply, as summer temperatures will be “unlivable” without air conditioning. Sea-level rise will require large sums to be spent on protecting or rebuilding or moving infrastructure in coastal areas. Moreover, there will be severe environmental damage, because of phenomena such as the rise in sea temperatures and more frequent and more severe dust-storms and sand-storms. Second, countries that consume hydrocarbons may, as part of the transition to renewable energy, buy less oil and gas, so reducing the revenues available to GCC governments. Third, the countries which produce the food on which GCC countries depend may themselves suffer climate-change impacts that damage their agricultural sectors, rendering GCC food supplies less secure. GCC governments will need to find ways of responding to these major challenges. This chapter does not examine the separate question of the contribution of GCC states, whether actual or potential, to the mitigation of greenhouse-gas emissions.