Closing the climate compliance gap
Featuring insights from Anand Balasubramanian, Partner – Head of Risk and Compliance Advisory, Grant Thornton UAE.
In a featured article for Gulf Business, Anand Balasubramanian explores how the UAE’s new Climate Change Law marks a shift in the region’s approach to emissions reporting—moving it from a voluntary ESG exercise to a regulatory and governance imperative for organisations operating in the UAE.
The article provides insight into the reality of mandatory greenhouse gas (GHG) reporting becoming a core compliance requirement rather than a sustainability add‑on. It outlines how the introduction of the national Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) system reflects the UAE government’s intent to gain consistent, reliable visibility over emissions across sectors, supporting its broader climate ambitions.
This also makes it clear that emissions reporting is no longer a narrow technical or operational task. As regulatory expectations increase and reporting deadlines loom, climate metrics are emerging as an enterprise‑wide concern—requiring stronger data quality, verification, and governance frameworks, with oversight extending to senior leadership and boards.
Overall, this article highlights that organisations which act now—by embedding emissions reporting into core processes, strengthening controls, and future‑proofing their data systems—will not only reduce regulatory and reputational risk, but will be better positioned to adapt to future requirements.
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Anand Balasubramanian Anand brings over 25 years of consulting experience across the GCC, APAC, and US, with a strong focus on analytics, risk advisory, and ESG. He has built a strong reputation and network in the region over the last 16 years, particularly within the financial services sector, advising central banks, regulators, DFIs, and commercial banks on risk analytics and strategy, climate stress testing, regulatory inspections, and AI-ML driven digital transformation of risk functions.View Profile