GENEVA, 15th October, 2026 (WAM) -- Artificial intelligence (AI) could unlock more than $1 trillion in economic and sustainability value across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) by 2030, but the region’s strong potential to scale AI will depend on faster grid connections and effective management of rising energy and water demands, according to two new WEF reports.
Unlocking Value: AI for Resilient Growth in MENA, developed with Bain & Company, and Optimizing Hyperscale Data Centre Infrastructure in MENA, developed with Saudi Research and Media Group (SRMG), examine how the region can translate its AI ambitions into sustainable economic value while building the infrastructure required to support growth at scale. Together, the reports highlight MENA’s opportunity to translate AI investment and infrastructure development into last regional impact, while stressing that resilient energy, water and digital systems will be essential to realizing this opportunity.
"MENA has the resources, investment capacity and ambition to become a major centre of AI-led growth,” said Maroun Kairouz, Managing Director, World Economic Forum. “Turning that ambition into reality will require innovation across data-centre infrastructure, energy and water systems, and the application of AI to drive sustainability solutions."
Unlocking Value: AI for Resilient Growth in MENA estimates that AI could unlock more than $1 trillion in economic and sustainability value across the region by 2030. This includes up to $200 billion in sustainable financing through the financial sector, $370 billion in sustainable investment flows enabled by the public sector, $250 billion in long-term asset losses avoided, $90 billion in increased valuation through improved sustainability performance for the energy sector and $100 billion in sustainable projects launched through cross-sector partnerships.
The report identifies a significant gap between AI’s perceived potential and its implementation. While 89% of sustainability leaders surveyed by the MENA Chief Sustainability Officers Network see high or very high potential for AI to advance their organizations’ sustainability goals, only 40–55% describe their adoption of sustainable AI use cases as “piloting” or “scaled”, depending on the use case.