Environmental consultancy has changed in the region. Not long ago, environmental specialists were typically brought into projects to secure permits, complete impact assessments and ensure developments met regulatory requirements. Their role was largely reactive, focused on helping projects satisfy environmental obligations.
Today, clients expect environmental consultants to do much more than secure approvals.
Governments are strengthening environmental regulation, investors are embedding ESG performance into funding decisions, and developers are under growing pressure to deliver projects that are not only commercially successful but environmentally responsible. Together, these forces are redefining what clients expect from environmental consultancy—and when they expect that expertise to be involved.
Environmental consultants are responding by taking on a broader strategic role, working alongside clients from the earliest stages of project development to help shape planning, inform investment decisions, identify opportunities, reduce risk and create long-term value throughout the project lifecycle.
Few areas illustrate this evolution more clearly than biodiversity. Traditionally viewed as a permitting hurdle or environmental constraint, biodiversity is increasingly recognised as a business consideration capable of improving project outcomes. Strong biodiversity strategies can strengthen ESG performance, support access to finance, streamline regulatory approvals and help developments differentiate themselves in an increasingly competitive market.
“Historically biodiversity has been captured on the project risk register as a permitting hurdle to clear before the real work began. That framing is changing. Developers are increasingly recognising that strong biodiversity outcomes generate measurable returns: better ESG ratings, smoother regulatory pathways, improved access to green finance, and meaningful brand differentiation in a crowded giga-project landscape. Biodiversity is moving from a cost line to a value driver,” says Shaun Pearce, Director of Environment at KEO.
Biodiversity Moves to the Design Table
One of the clearest examples of this changing role is the way biodiversity is influencing project design.
For many years, ecological surveys were carried out after plans had largely been frozen, limiting opportunities to respond to environmental constraints without costly redesigns. Today, biodiversity specialists are increasingly involved before key planning decisions are made, providing the environmental intelligence needed to influence site selection, infrastructure planning and development layouts from the outset.
“It means biodiversity specialists are in the room before the plan is formalised, not after. In practice, that’s baseline surveys, species mapping, and habitat sensitivity overlays informing site selection, layout optioneering, building footprints, road alignments, and lighting design. The earlier the data lands, the more design flexibility there is. By the time the plan is signed off, the costly redesigns have already been avoided,” explains Dr. Muhammad Hanif, Regional Manager at KEO.
Central to this approach is the mitigation hierarchy, a globally recognised framework that prioritises avoiding environmental impacts before seeking to minimise, restore or offset them.
“The hierarchy is straightforward: avoid first, minimise where you can’t avoid, restore what’s disturbed, and offset only as a last resort. Early data lets you sit much higher up that ladder. Routing infrastructure around a sensitive habitat is almost always cheaper and lower-risk than offsetting it later. Late-stage offsets expose projects to regulatory pushback, programme delays and reputational impact. Early identification is, in effect, insurance against being forced into the most expensive tier of the hierarchy.” says Ahsan Raza, Project Manager at KEO.
Increasingly, detailed species-specific surveys are complementing broad habitat assessments, enabling design teams to make informed decisions based on the habitats and species present rather than broad ecological assumptions.
“A general habitat survey tells you the landscape; species-specific surveys tell you what is actually living in it, and where. For range-restricted or threatened species, that distinction matters enormously. Knowing precisely where a spiny-tailed lizard colony sits, or where a narrow-range gecko population overlaps a development footprint, allows design teams to make targeted decisions—shift a road, redesign a culvert, preserve a wadi corridor—rather than blanket commitments that may protect the wrong area at significant cost,” observes Dr Muhammad Afzal, Ecologist at KEO. The commercial benefits are equally significant. As green bonds, sustainability-linked loans and ESG-screened investment become more common; biodiversity is increasingly influencing investment decisions as well as design.
“The link between ESG performance and access to external funding is reshaping environmental ambitions, with green bonds, sustainability-linked loans and ESG-screened equity now forming a meaningful share of how projects are financed. Lenders are no longer satisfied with stated intent. They want measurable, audited environmental outcomes tied to disbursement triggers. That has elevated biodiversity from a CSR conversation to a treasury conversation. When the CFO is asking about species protection plans, the centre of gravity has shifted,” says Christian Millar, Managing Director, KEO-Sustainability + Environment.
Raising the Standard
Environmental regulation is also evolving. Across the Middle East, governments are investing in stronger environmental institutions, clearer governance and more rigorous oversight, recognising that environmental performance is becoming fundamental to long-term development.
In Saudi Arabia, organisations such as the National Center for Wildlife (NCW) and the National Center for Vegetation Cover Development and Combating Desertification (NCVC) have significantly expanded environmental oversight and monitoring capabilities. The Environmental Agency (EAD) in Abu Dhabi has been leading from the front with state of the environment reports and regional habitat mapping. Regulatory maturity is gradually aligning with development and at times pre-empting it.
“The infrastructure is taking shape for stronger regulatory control. In KSA the NCW, the NCVC, and growing inter-agency coordination represent real progress. The next step is depth: clear, published technical standards for biodiversity, surveys, retention, translocations, holding facilities and post-release monitoring; transparent permit timelines; and consistent enforcement across regions. Equally important is investment in local technical capacity, so regulatory expertise grows alongside the development pipeline rather than lagging it,” says Raza.
Developers are also raising their own expectations. Increasingly, they are adopting environmental and social management frameworks that go beyond statutory requirements, often benchmarking them against international standards such as the World Bank International Financing Corporation (IFC) Performance Standards.
“The leading developers are writing their own environmental and social management frameworks, often benchmarked against IFC Performance Standards or equivalent international references. In practice, self-regulation is doing significant lifting. Where it works, it’s because senior leadership treats environmental and social performance as a board-level KPI rather than a compliance line item. Where it doesn’t, it’s usually because frameworks exist on paper without authority on the ground. Self-regulation can lead it but cannot fully substitute for clear public standards,” explains Pearce.
Biodiversity is just one example of how environmental consultancy has broadened. Clients increasingly expect integrated advice across various verticals including, but not limited to, environmental governance, environmental and social management systems, waste, air quality and biodiversity, amongst other disciplines ensuring informed decision-making throughout the investment lifecycle.
KEO is supporting this transition through projects including a citywide Environmental and Social Management Systems aligned with IFC Performance Standards, City-wide waste and air quality strategies, minimum functional specifications for the most sensitive marine developments aligned with IFC standards, and managing environmental compliance across projects in environmental and heritage sensitive areas. Together, these projects demonstrate how clients are strategically embedding environmental governance across entire programmes rather than individual projects.
Protection in Practice
In the context of rapid development and the ambition to adopt the mitigation hierarchy, many challenges are still presented. As development expands into previously undisturbed landscapes, wildlife relocation is becoming an increasingly important part of environmental management. While not ideal, these programmes are sometimes the reality. The success of these programmes depends on scientific rigour, careful planning and long-term monitoring rather than simply moving animals out of the way of development.
“Ethical relocation starts long before any animal is moved. It involves comprehensive baseline data, regulator engagement and permitting, purpose-built holding facilities meeting recognised welfare standards, species-appropriate capture protocols, veterinary oversight, genetically and ecologically suitable release sites, and long-term post-release monitoring to confirm the population has actually established. Programmes that skip the monitoring step are not relocation; they are displacement,” remarks Eoin Sheridan, Executive Director, Environment & Sustainability, KEO-Sustainability + Environment.
The emphasis on monitoring reflects a broader shift in environmental practice. Regulators and developers increasingly expect evidence that mitigation measures are delivering meaningful outcomes, not simply that they have been implemented.
KEO has adopted techniques designed to minimise stress and maximise animal welfare throughout the process. Rather than relying on unethical methods such as flooding reptile burrows to force animals to the surface, the team uses endoscopes to identify occupied burrows before carefully excavating reptiles by hand. The approach reduces the risk of injury while allowing animals to be safely relocated to suitable habitats.
Well-designed relocation programmes also help establish future industry standards.
“Well-documented programmes generate the evidence base regulators need to write better standards. When programmes can demonstrate survival rates, breeding success and population stability years after release, that data becomes the reference point for future permits across the region. The most useful thing the industry can do for regulators right now is to run programmes transparently and share the learnings, including the parts that didn’t work,” explains Dr. Afzal.
The Future of Environmental Consultancy
The Middle East has a unique opportunity to redefine the role of environmental consultancy. Unlike many mature markets, where environmental policy evolved alongside decades of urbanisation, many countries across the region are simultaneously building new cities, infrastructure and regulatory frameworks. That creates the opportunity to integrate environmental thinking into projects from the outset rather than retrofit solutions later.
“The future looks cautiously optimistic. The region is in a rare position, building at scale while environmental frameworks are still being written or adapted, which means biodiversity can be designed in rather than bolted on. If developers, regulators and consultants continue to adopt the practice, informing design, better data, clearer standards and honest monitoring, the Middle East could end up exporting models rather than importing them. The challenge will be maintaining that ambition once the novelty wears off and budgets tighten,” concludes Pearce.
Biodiversity is one example of how environmental consultancy is evolving. As regulation matures, investor expectations rise and projects become more complex, environmental specialists are becoming trusted advisers throughout the project lifecycle. Their role is no longer simply to obtain an environmental permit, but to help clients make better decisions – creating developments that are more resilient, more investable and better prepared for the future.
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