The Emirates Green Building Council (EmiratesGBC), a non-profit organisation aimed at conserving the environment by strengthening and promoting green building practices, has announced the programme for its milestone 15th Annual Congress, scheduled to take place on October 27–28 at the Dusit Thani Dubai.
Marking two decades since the Council’s establishment, this year’s Congress convenes under the decisive theme: ‘Beyond the Sandbox: From Benchmark to Breakthrough.’ The event is held under the patronage of the UAE Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure and supported by its governmental partner, the Department of Energy and Transport – Abu Dhabi.
The 2026 edition arrives at a critical juncture for the region’s built environment. As the nation accelerates toward net-zero targets under the UAE’s Third Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC 3.0)—which mandates an ambitious 79% reduction in building-sector emissions by 2035 - the Congress pivots the industry narrative away from isolated pilot projects, sandboxes, and voluntary pledges toward rigorous accountability, mainstream adoption, and portfolio-wide transformation.
Over two intensive days, the Congress will gather high-level policymakers, institutional financiers, master developers, contractors, engineering leaders, and academic researchers to confront foundational questions: What is the sector actively delivering today? How is operational performance verified? And how can market participants align capital and delivery models to meet national decarbonisation mandates?
The Congress will open with keynote addresses from Eng. Mohamed Ibrahim Al Mansoori, Undersecretary at the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure and Khalid Bushnaq, Chairman of EmiratesGBC, followed by an opening plenary on translating benchmarks into breakthroughs led by Sanjeev Coelho, EmiratesGBC Board Member and Senior Associate at HOK Architects, and a high-level fireside reflection on the state of the UAE built environment with EmiratesGBC Co-Founder, Vice Chair, and Treasurer, Dr. Habiba Al Maarashi.
Five Interconnected Themes Driving Sector Transformation
Reflecting real-world operational and regulatory pressures, the Congress agenda explores five vital thematic tracks designed to deliver evidence-based market progress. These are:
*Performance, Data & Disclosure: Interrogating national energy and water benchmark findings to shift asset management toward data-driven retrofits and verified operational efficiency.
*Materials and Supply Chain Readiness: Moving beyond voluntary environmental declarations to establish transparent, third-party assured lower-carbon materials, featuring industrial dialogue.
*Finance, Policy, and Delivery: Addressing the nexus of climate risk, insurability, and green capital deployment.
*Resilience, Resource Security & Nature-Based Solutions: Showcasing practical UAE case studies spanning regenerative urbanism, façade adaptation, water stewardship, indoor environmental quality, and smart-building human health metrics.
*Collective Action, Accountability, and What’s Next: Uniting master developers around The Developer’s Equation, culminating in the signature Market Shapers Exchange and the synthesis of an actionable Congress Communiqué.
UAE’s sustainability journey
Commenting on the urgent need to capitalise on the current defining moment in the UAE’s sustainability journey, Khalid Bushnaq, Chairman of EmiratesGBC, said: "For twenty years, EmiratesGBC has championed the green building movement across the UAE. Today, sustainability can no longer remain confined to an experimental sandbox or isolated showcase assets. With NDC 3.0 setting an unequivocal target of a 79% reduction in building emissions by 2035, the industry must execute at scale."
"This Congress is designed to challenge legacy assumptions, connect institutional finance directly with project delivery, and establish the transparency needed for enduring market transformation," he stated.
"Moving ‘Beyond the Sandbox’ requires honest, data-backed conversations across the entire building lifecycle. We are bringing together every link of the value chain, from manufacturers and tech innovators to asset managers and institutional regulators, to establish clear pathways for retrofits, decarbonised materials, and performance disclosure," stated Bushnaq. Congress 2026 will set a definitive baseline for what the UAE built environment takes forward into the next decade," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
