Dubai’s $8.7 trillion economic development plan for the next 10 years — called D33 — that was announced earlier this month aims to cement the United Arab Emirate's (UAE) position as “the global city at the center of many emerging markets.”

The UAE, of which Dubai is part, looks to triple the number of containers handled annually in its port by 2032 and increase the number of Emirati-flagged ships and tankers to 2,000. The country’s flag-carrying airlines — Emirates and Etihad Airways — have started reintroducing their Airbus A380 fleet, the world’s largest passenger aircraft.

Neighboring countries are in the running as well. Saudi Arabia unveiled in November 2022 its plan for a massive aviation hub in Riyadh with six parallel runways designed to accommodate up to 120 million travelers by 2030 as part of a push to become a global logistics hub. Oman aims to leverage its location outside of the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow chokepoint rife with political conflict, to become a prime gateway to Gulf markets.

At first glance, Gulf countries’ appetite for the carbon-intensive transport and logistics industries collides with their declared ambition to be part of the global community’s response to climate change. The UAE pledged in October 2021 to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050; Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Kuwait followed suit. Only Qatar has resisted it thus far.