Middle East transition finance gains momentum with inaugural awards highlighting regional progress

Environmental Finance has announced the winners of its inaugural Middle East Transition Finance Awards, signaling a fresh wave of momentum in a market still figuring out how to scale up climate finance effectively.

These awards are meant to recognize bond and loan deals that are helping the region transition towards a lower-carbon and more resilient economy. They also highlight institutions that are shaping the upcoming phase of transition finance as the Middle Eastern capital markets continue to mature. According to Environmental Finance, the winners were selected by an independent panel that considered factors such as the amount of capital each deal mobilized, the originality of the structures involved, and the extent of their impact.

For the Gulf region, timing really does matter. Governments across the area have laid out ambitious decarbonization strategies, but much of the real work now depends on private capital finding a commercially feasible way into sectors like energy, transportation, buildings, and banking. The awards seem to suggest that lenders and issuers are increasingly developing financial products that sit somewhere between traditional loans and pure green finance. Basically, these products allow companies to fund transition activities without having to completely walk away from their existing operations overnight.

One standout among the winners was Emirates NBD Group, which took home five awards across different parts of its business. These multiple wins point to the broad role the bank has established itself in sustainable finance, not just as a lender, but as a structurer and arranger as well. Its subsidiary, Emirates NBD Capital, has been particularly active in debt markets, while Emirates Islamic is also building a name for itself in Shariah-compliant sustainable finance.

This success isn’t really surprising given the broader recognition Emirates NBD has received lately. Last year, it was named the Best Bank for ESG in the UAE by Euromoney’s Awards for Excellence 2023, an honor that praised its push into sustainability, the rollout of green products, and its internal ESG processes. At that time, the bank revealed it had already issued USD 12 billion in sustainable finance, and its total portfolio of sustainable assets had surpassed USD 40 billion. That rapid growth underscores how quickly this segment has expanded within Emirates’ banking scene. The bank also leverages its Sustainable Finance Framework to support green and sustainable debt issuances linked to low-carbon, climate-resilient projects.

These recent awards only reinforce that growth trend. Emirates NBD and Emirates NBD Capital both gained recognition at the Bonds, Loans & Sukuk Middle East Awards 2024, with their debut USD 750 million green bond really standing out. That bond was described by the bank as the largest green bond issued by a bank in the MENAT region at the time. Additionally, Emirates NBD Capital has developed a substantial advisory and execution platform in the local debt markets, with experience covering sukuk as well as other structured financings.

Looking beyond just individual banks, these awards also reflect how transition finance is increasingly recognized as a standalone category. Unlike traditional green finance, which usually funds specified environmentally friendly projects, transition finance supports businesses that are still in the process of decarbonizing. And that’s quite relevant for the Middle East, where many sectors remain heavily tied to hydrocarbons, energy-intensive infrastructure, and rapidly growing cities. For lenders and investors, what’s appealing is the chance to fund tangible change without demanding an immediate, perhaps unrealistic, overhaul of their clients’ entire business models.

One notable recognition went to His Excellency Majid Al Suwaidi, named Personality of the Year in his role as CEO of ALTÉRRA. The award underscores the growing influence of this Abu Dhabi-based climate investment platform, established to channel capital into the global transition and to bridge the gap between public climate commitments and private investment deployment. In a region where sovereigns are often strongly committed but the pipelines for investment can be uneven, this kind of initiative becomes increasingly important.

Environmental Finance mentioned that the winners exemplify how sustainable finance is becoming more deeply integrated into regional economic development plans. And that’s likely to resonate in the UAE, where financial institutions, sovereign-linked investors, and regulators are all actively pushing forward with sustainability agendas, while also trying to keep their competitive edge. The real challenge now isn’t just issuing more green debt but ensuring that transition capital actually reaches the more difficult parts of the economy to finance.

The awards also hint at a broader shift happening in regional capital markets. A few years back, sustainable finance in the Middle East was thought of more as a niche activity; now, it’s increasingly woven into mainstream banking strategy, debt issuance, and investment banking. The field might still be relatively young, but the level of competition and the diversity of transactions being recognized show that issuers aren’t just testing the waters anymore, they’re building scalable, repeatable financing models.

This evolution will definitely shape things in the coming years, especially as companies across the Gulf face mounting expectations from investors, regulators, and customers. For now, though, the first Middle East Transition Finance Awards suggest the region’s financial sector is moving past broad sustainability rhetoric and into more targeted, deal-by-deal execution.