Climate Concern Stalls Without Action in Middle East Retail.
Consumers Trade Climate Urgency for Price and Quality at Checkout.
Concern Without Conversion
PwC’s Voice of the Consumer 2025 surveyed 2,624 respondents across Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, and Egypt between January and February 2025. Three in four (75%) said they were concerned about climate change, down from 83% in 2024.
That is still high, but the slide matters, it signals climate urgency is flattening under economic pressure. Inflation and cost-of-living rank higher as perceived threats, and households already stretched by rising food prices are not able to treat climate as a purchase driver.
Why Sustainability Claims Fail
At the shelf, sustainability rarely influences the final choice. Only 21% of consumers cited carbon footprint as a reason to buy local products. Most buy local because of quality, health benefits, or to support the economy. The environmental rationale collapses against immediate needs. This reflects structural conditions.
Over 50% of food in MENA is imported, and the UAE depends on imports for 90%. That reliance makes “buy local to cut emissions” a weak proposition when local produce is more expensive and less available. Shoppers cannot afford to treat sustainability as an abstract virtue when price and access dominate the basket.
The Price-to-Proof Gap
The same survey shows conditional openness: 45% of consumers said they would pay more if higher costs directly protected soil health and biodiversity. That conditionality is critical. It reveals a price-to-proof gap: people will not absorb a premium unless it is transparently tied to visible outcomes.
Current messaging fails because it stays general, “green,” “sustainable,” “eco-friendly”, instead of specific. The gap is credibility, not concern.
What Would Make It Work
The data signals a clear route forward. First, sustainability must be framed as food security. Rising import bills and supply disruptions give regional urgency to soil protection, water use, and farm resilience.
Second, sustainability costs must be explained as functional, why a dirham more protects land, ensures availability, or stabilizes prices long term.
Third, proof must be delivered in forms consumers recognize: certifications linked to local farms, transparent sourcing, and evidence of reinvestment in regional systems. Without this linkage, sustainability is reduced to marketing language that fails at the point of purchase.
Bottom Line
Proof or Irrelevance
Climate concern in MENA is real, but purchase decisions show it is not enough.
Consumers act when higher costs come with visible, credible outcomes, better land, more secure supply, healthier food. Without proof, sustainability remains rhetoric. With proof, it becomes a driver of both loyalty and resilience.
