Sarah Jaber
Associate Director, Sustainability, The Bulb (Part of Trivandi Group), UAE
Sarah is a seasoned sustainability professional with over fourteen years of consultancy experience, leading high-impact projects across the region. She specializes in developing sustainability strategies, design and delivery for major developers and organizations, combining technical expertise with strong stakeholder engagement to drive effective, results-oriented solutions.
She has worked with prominent clients including Dubai Holding, Qiddiya, Diriyah Company, and Seven Entertainment Ventures, guiding them on embedding sustainability into complex developments and operations. She brings extensive experience across energy, water, carbon, circular economy, climate resilience, and social impact.
With a strong foundation in the built environment sector, Sarah currently leads Trivandi’s sustainability offering in the MENA region as the Associate Director of Sustainability, focusing on major events, sports, entertainment, and venues.
Sarah is a recognized thought leader in sustainability and the built environment, regularly contributing to industry events and publishing thought pieces on the topic. Sarah is also a lecturer on sustainable buildings at the American University of Beirut.
She holds an MEng in Applied Energy and a BEng in Mechanical Engineering, alongside professional accreditations in circular economy, climate risk and resilience, green building certifications, and energy management.
1.What adaptation strategies are proving most effective in protecting assets, supply chains, and operations from climate hazards?
The most effective adaptation strategies share one characteristic: they move from reactive response to proactive risk management.
At asset level, forward-looking climate risk assessments using scenario modelling (2030–2100) are increasingly standard practice. These assessments inform targeted upgrades such as enhanced cooling capacity, flood-proofed basements, elevated critical equipment, backup power systems, and on-site energy storage. Passive design measures, like shading, high-performance façades, reflective materials, and improved insulation, also reduce exposure to heat stress while lowering operational costs.
For operations, business continuity planning is evolving to account for climate-specific disruptions. This includes redundancy in energy and water supply, smart monitoring systems, predictive maintenance, and digital twins that simulate stress scenarios. Early warning systems and real-time environmental data are helping operators anticipate and manage extreme events more effectively.
Supply chain resilience is becoming equally critical. Diversifying suppliers geographically, prioritizing local sourcing where feasible, maintaining strategic material buffers, and embedding climate risk criteria into procurement processes all reduce exposure to global disruptions. Increasingly, companies are working collaboratively with key suppliers to map Scope 3 climate risks and co-develop mitigation strategies.
The organizations seeing the strongest results treat adaptation not as insurance, but as asset value protection, strengthening reliability, reducing downtime, and enhancing long-term investor confidence.
2.How can companies and cities in the UAE and GCC integrate climate risk into infrastructure, real estate, and urban development planning?
Climate risk needs to move beyond environmental compliance and become a core planning and financial consideration. One of the most effective starting points is integrating climate risk assessments at the masterplanning stage, using forward-looking projections (2050–2100) rather than historic weather data to stress-test assets against heat, flooding, and water scarcity.
Cities and developers can incorporate mandatory climate scenario modelling for major projects, aligned with international disclosure frameworks such as TCFD. Quantifying risk in financial terms, including downtime, insurance exposure, energy demand spikes, and asset degradation, helps position resilience as value protection rather than additional cost. The information can also provide crucial insigh to inform design responses.
Planning authorities can progressively update building codes to address heat mitigation, shaded public realm, water reuse systems, and district-level cooling efficiency. At portfolio level, asset owners can conduct vulnerability audits and prioritize retrofits based on exposure and criticality.
Embedding resilience KPIs into procurement frameworks and performance contracts further reinforces accountability. While we are still far from this in the region, integrating climate risk across design, construction and operations is a realistic ambition to build resilience in future assets.
3. What adaptation measures are most relevant for regional risks such as heat, water scarcity, flooding, and sea-level rise?
In the GCC, adaptation strategies typically focus on heat management, water efficiency, and protection against extreme rainfall and coastal exposure.
To address rising temperatures, passive cooling strategies can significantly reduce heat gain and energy demand. These include optimized orientation, high-performance façades, shading systems, reflective materials, and increased thermal mass. District cooling systems can be optimized for peak efficiency and supported by on-site renewables and energy storage to enhance operational continuity during heatwaves.
Water scarcity calls for circular water systems and demand reduction. Treated sewage effluent reuse, greywater recycling, smart irrigation, drought-tolerant landscaping, and leak detection technologies can meaningfully reduce potable water demand. Large developments can explore water-positive or water-neutral design approaches.
With more intense rainfall events emerging, Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS), such as permeable paving, bioswales, retention basins, and soakaways, can help manage runoff at masterplan scale.
For coastal zones, setback planning, elevated critical infrastructure, and nature-based solutions like mangrove restoration can reduce long-term exposure. Combining engineered and nature-based solutions tends to provide the most robust and cost-effective outcomes.
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 are deeply interconnected, particularly in the GCC where extreme heat already drives energy demand. In the UAE, cooling can account for up to 60–70% of peak electricity load in summer. A net-zero building that is not designed for 50°C+ conditions risks performance gaps, equipment failure, and rising operational emissions due to overreliance on mechanical cooling.
Aligning resilience with UAE Net Zero 2050 therefore starts with design. High-performance façades, external shading, reduced glazing ratios, and thermal mass can cut cooling demand significantly, directly supporting decarbonization targets. District cooling optimization and thermal energy storage further reduce peak grid stress, improving both emissions performance and energy security.
Water resilience is equally strategic. The UAE is among the world’s highest per-capita water consumers, with desalination supplying roughly 90% of potable water. Integrating treated sewage effluent (TSE) reuse, greywater recycling, and smart irrigation reduces desalination dependence, lowering both energy intensity and vulnerability to supply disruption.
Resilient infrastructure also supports diversification sectors such as tourism, logistics, and major events. Climate-adapted public realm, shaded walkability, and heat-resilient venues extend usable outdoor seasons and enhance visitor experience.
Embedding measurable adaptation criteria, such as peak load reduction targets, water reuse percentages, and heat mitigation standards, within Net Zero pathways ensures that decarbonization is not theoretical, but operationally robust under future climate conditions.