The Dubai-based bank published its first Transition Finance Framework, covering manufacturing, mining and power, and tied to a target of mobilising $30 billion of sustainable and transition finance by 2030.
Emirates NBD has published its first Transition Finance Framework, setting out how the bank will identify and categorise lending that supports decarbonisation in carbon-intensive sectors. The framework underpins a commitment to mobilise $30 billion of sustainable and transition finance by 2030.
The banking group covers the Middle East, North Africa, Türkiye and South Asia. It sits alongside the bank’s existing Sustainable Finance Framework and is aimed at clients whose activities do not yet qualify as green, but who are taking measurable steps to cut emissions.
Emirates NBD defines transition finance as funding for the decarbonisation of carbon-intensive activities and entities, where those activities follow credible, time-bound pathways consistent with the Paris Agreement. Eligible activities must deliver substantial emissions reduction over time, avoid long-term lock-in of high-carbon infrastructure, and rest on clear and measurable transition plans at borrower level.
That last condition is the one that bites. A borrower without a documented plan does not qualify, regardless of what the money is spent on.
Sector coverage runs across heavy industry
The framework applies to sectors the bank describes as complex, capital-intensive or technologically difficult to abate. It names manufacturing, mining, power and energy, real estate, transportation and storage, agriculture and information technology.
Its components follow standard sustainable finance architecture: guidelines for use of proceeds, a process for project evaluation and selection, management of proceeds, and reporting. Emirates NBD developed it with reference to the ICMA Climate Transition Finance Handbook, the ICMA Climate Transition Bond Guidelines 2025 and the Loan Market Association Guide to Transition Loan Finance 2025. DNV Assurance provided a second party opinion.
Vijay Bains, chief sustainability officer and group head of ESG at Emirates NBD, said: “By providing a consistent internal methodology to assess eligible transition activities and engage clients on credible transition opportunities, the Framework reinforces Emirates NBD’s role as a trusted partner in the region’s shift towards lower-carbon operations. In doing so, this initiative strengthens our commitment to mobilise USD 30 billion in sustainable and transition finance by 2030.”
Why regional lending criteria matter
Gulf heavy industry has largely been funded outside the green finance perimeter, because cement, aluminium and petrochemical borrowers rarely meet green bond eligibility tests. Transition labels exist to bridge that gap, and their credibility depends entirely on how strictly the issuing bank polices them.
A framework with a second party opinion and published eligibility criteria gives regional industrial borrowers a defined route to capital, and gives their lenders a defensible position on greenwashing claims. It also sets an expectation: manufacturers and miners across the UAE that want this money will need transition plans specific enough to be assessed.
For industrial operators in the region planning electrification, fuel switching or capture projects, the practical change is that the financing question now has a named product and a published test to pass.
