Connect | MENA // Major Panel: Beyond PUE & WUE, can MENA forge its own sustainable accountability?

As MENA accelerates the development of AI-scale infrastructure, its harsh climate and water scarcity are colliding with global sustainability standards like PUE and WUE. This session challenges whether these benchmarks (designed for temperate regions) accurately reflect the realities of operating in the desert. It explores if the region should establish its own sustainability framework, one that balances uptime demands, environmental constraints, and national vision goals. The discussion asks a fundamental question: what does genuine sustainability look like in MENA’s unique context? Panelists will discuss whether adopting region-specific sustainability metrics enhances accountability or risks perceptions of greenwashing. The session will also explore how operators can balance the use of water-intensive cooling systems with growing water scarcity, and whether new or adapted metrics could better capture environmental performance in one of the world’s most resource-constrained regions.