Governance in Climate and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Gulf Council Countries (GCC)—An Overview

This chapter reviews how governance shapes climate action and Sustainable Development Goals delivery in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. It synthesizes evidence on the region’s dual context of hydrocarbon dependence and high climate risk and maps the policy turn toward sustainability through national visions, Paris Agreement commitments, and emerging net-zero pledges. The analysis examines institutional architectures that align the SDGs with development planning, inter-ministerial coordination bodies, subsidy reforms, renewable energy procurement, and adaptation measures in water, cities, and coastal areas. It assesses horizontal and vertical coordination, regional cooperation through GCC platforms, the Middle East Green Initiative, and the shared electricity grid, as well as the growing roles of the private sector, sovereign funds, Environmental, Social, and Governance disclosure, academia, youth, and civil society. Persistent gaps include implementation capacity, data quality and transparency, policy incoherence between diversification and hydrocarbons, limited local participation, and uneven regional politics. Opportunities stem from fiscal space, falling clean technology costs, hydrogen and carbon management strategies, and the potential to export arid-climate solutions. The chapter concludes with governance priorities for the 2030 horizon: strengthen mandates and skills, mainstream climate and Sustainable Development Goals criteria in budgeting and project appraisal, enhance open data and monitoring, reporting and verification, formalize regional standards and cooperation, and institutionalize inclusive stakeholder engagement.