The environmental and energy policies to enable sustainable consumption and production in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries

Abstract

Sustainable consumption and production mean that economic development should satisfy the needs of the current population without jeopardizing the lives of future generations. Relying on the hydrocarbon sector generates a significant trade-off between economic development and the environment. The GCC governments have an essential role in this process and can affect the outcomes. The policies that have been implemented in the GCC countries to protect the environment and empower sustainable consumption and production were explored and identified. Moreover, the success of these policies in achieving their goals was assessed. The analytical approach and utilizing the previous studies’ findings were used by the current study. This study finds that the institutional actions of the Gulf countries are not enough to generate sustainable consumption and production. These countries remain strongly affected by the hydrocarbon sector, and the diversification achievements are weak. Further, the energy price reforms have many problems as a tool to enhance sustainable consumption and production. Additionally, these countries work under the concept of entrepreneurial state capitalist. The government controls all the sectors, including the private sector, to secure the regime. The policy implication of the current paper is that the GCC countries should recover the process of diversifying the economy, enhancing the movements toward the free market economy, and adopting an efficient energy-environmental policy by enhancing more concrete actions toward new technologies. It includes shifting to renewable energy, i.e., solar and wind.