Future Scenarios of Adoption Sustainable Materials by Construction Firms in the United Arab Emirates

The construction industry accounts for 39% of greenhouse gas emissions, and change is required, especially with the Net Zero initiative. UAE construction companies must evaluate their current positions and update their strategies to support government regulations. Building futuristic communities is crucial for expanding the built environment within the country; however, the types of materials used should account for two aspects: sustainability and climate resilience, and both must be considered whenever these construction companies formulate their strategic response. Hence, scenario planning significantly provides valuable insights to decision-makers in construction companies’ strategic departments to envision four plausible scenarios of the external environment of the construction industry in ten years. This will help them update their strategies to benefit from upcoming opportunities and prepare for the worst-case scenarios. This thesis relied heavily on literature reviews, digital libraries, and market and government announcements to collect valuable data to identify the drivers of change expected to shift the future. At the end of this thesis, four scenarios will be constructed, each requiring a different strategic response in which construction companies could be winners or losers depending on their positions and mitigation plans. Lastly, the drivers of change, uncertainty, and impact levels could change significantly based on new market trends; this must be reviewed and updated regularly, impacting future pathways.