Eftal Efecinar
Head of ESG and Partnerships, Coral | Innovation, Climate & AI Strategy Advisor, Next Generation GCC
Climate-tech and sustainability strategist with 16+ years of experience across the UAE, GCC, and Türkiye.
Eftal works at the intersection of AI, carbon management, ESG infrastructure, and innovation strategy, supporting corporates and governments in operationalizing climate action and resilience planning.
1.How are organisations globally assessing and quantifying climate-related physical and transition risks?
Globally, organisations are moving beyond qualitative climate disclosures toward structured, quantifiable risk modelling. Leading companies are integrating climate risk into financial planning through scenario analysis aligned with TCFD and ISSB standards. Physical risks (heat stress, flooding, extreme weather) are increasingly assessed using geospatial mapping and asset-level vulnerability analysis. Transition risks are quantified through carbon pricing scenarios, regulatory forecasting, and supply-chain exposure modelling.
The shift we’re seeing is from “reporting risk” to “pricing risk.” Climate exposure is now being translated into financial metrics, impact on EBITDA, asset impairment, insurance premiums, and cost of capital.
However, the real differentiator is integration. Organisations that perform best are embedding climate risk into core enterprise risk management (ERM) systems rather than treating it as a standalone sustainability exercise.
This ensures that climate considerations influence procurement, capital allocation, insurance strategy, and long-term investment decisions. Climate risk is highly operational and financial and needs to be taken seriously.
2.How can climate risk management be embedded into governance, enterprise risk management (ERM), and long-term strategic planning?
Embedding climate risk into governance requires three structural shifts.
First, board-level accountability must be formalised. Climate risk oversight should sit within risk or audit committees with defined KPIs, otherwise sustainability committees would be highly non-functional.
Second, ERM systems must treat climate risk as a cross-cutting risk category. That means integrating physical and transition risks into risk registers, stress testing processes, and capital planning cycles.
Third, climate considerations must influence strategy. Long-term strategic planning should incorporate climate scenarios (1.5°C, 2°C, delayed transition) to stress-test business models, assets, and supply chains.
The most resilient organizations treat climate risk as a strategic signal and use it as an information layer for diversification, innovation, new revenue streams, and infrastructure investments.
3. How can companies and cities in the UAE and GCC integrate climate risk into infrastructure, real estate, and urban development planning?
In the GCC, climate risk integration must be proactive rather than reactive. Heat stress, water scarcity, and coastal exposure are structural realities that industry sees strongly.
For infrastructure and real estate, this means climate stress-testing masterplans before development approvals. Urban design must incorporate passive cooling, reflective materials, shading systems, energy-efficient building envelopes, and district-level cooling optimization.
Cities should adopt climate risk screening tools during planning approvals, assessing long-term heat exposure, flood vulnerability, and water resilience at asset level. Digital modelling and urban climate simulations can significantly improve decision-making before capital is deployed.
The opportunity in the region is unique: much of the infrastructure is still being built. Integrating climate resilience now is significantly cheaper than retrofitting later. Climate-smart infrastructure is critical for asset protection and economic competitiveness, and luckily UAE is seeing it strongly and acting around that.
4. How can climate resilience be aligned with national strategies such as UAE Net Zero 2050 and long-term economic diversification?
Climate resilience and Net Zero strategies must move in parallel. Mitigation reduces long-term transition risk by decarbonising the economy, while adaptation protects existing assets and economic productivity from physical climate impacts. Both are essential for achieving UAE Net Zero 2050 and safeguarding long-term growth.
In the UAE context, resilience planning should directly reinforce economic diversification. Strategic sectors such as logistics, tourism, real estate, advanced manufacturing, food systems, and energy are highly exposed to heat stress, water scarcity, and supply chain disruptions. Embedding climate risk screening and resilience standards into these sectors strengthens competitiveness while protecting national investments.
Alignment requires translating resilience into measurable criteria. This means integrating climate risk metrics into industrial policy, infrastructure masterplans, green finance frameworks, and public procurement standards. Climate-resilient infrastructure, adaptive building codes, resilient supply chains, and energy-efficient assets should become baseline requirements rather than optional enhancements.
Equally important is data transparency. Without structured, real-time carbon and climate risk data, resilience remains conceptual. Organisations need integrated systems that connect emissions, physical risk exposure, regulatory reporting, and strategic planning.
This is where AI-native sustainability infrastructure becomes critical. At Coral, we work to enable organisations to move from fragmented reporting to structured, auditable climate intelligence, combining carbon accounting, risk visibility, and strategic dashboards into one operational layer. When climate data becomes decision-grade, resilience can be embedded into capital allocation, compliance, and long-term strategy.
Ultimately, resilience is a strategic advantage. Economies that integrate climate intelligence into their diversification pathways will attract capital, strengthen investor confidence, and position themselves as stable, forward-looking partners in a climate-conscious global economy.