2025 has emerged as a milestone in the development of the green building sector, after the concept moved from being technical practices added late in the design process to operation and implementation, an integrated institutional work system managed according to measurable performance indicators, built on operational partnerships, and achieving tangible environmental and economic impact.
A recent analytical data released by the Saaf Index, a platform owned by the Saudi Green Building Forum, revealed that the transformation of the sector is no longer limited to theoretical propositions or isolated initiatives, but has become an integrated strategic pathway that reflects its impact on projects, human capacity building, the business market, and climate action.
The 2025 Mid-Term Review to 2030 showed the sector's transition from an active phase to an institutionalized path, as the shift from the conceptual discourse of carbon neutrality to practical application was materialized through registered projects and measurable performance indicators, while governance, capacity building, projects, and the business market were integrated into an interconnected and mutually supportive ecosystem.
Kingdom tops performance and quality
The data of the approved Saaf system for 2025 highlighted that Saudi Arabia topped the participating countries in terms of average overall performance and impact quality, achieving the highest score with an average of (76.This reflects the Kingdom's ability to combine the quality of application, breadth of scope, and maturity of institutional practice.
The review reflected the maturity of the institutional role of the Saudi Green Building Forum, after it went beyond being an awareness platform to an effective professional partner in developing methodologies, activating applications, and measuring impact, through non-governmental professional frameworks based on conformity assessment, and strengthening the link between policies and applied projects. Digital indicators showed the size of the transformation achieved, as the number of registered professionals within the educational and professional system exceeded (7,300) professionals active during 2025 in (22) Arab countries, while the total cumulative projects since 2010 increased to (6,662) projects, in addition to the launch of dozens of initiatives related to the business market.
Green Projects
On the climate front, green project pathways have contributed to an estimated annual operational reduction of 62,800 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent and 29 professional recognition cases, reflecting the growing regional and international recognition of the Saudi experience.<Faisal Al Fadl, Secretary General of the Saudi Green Building Forum, emphasized that what was achieved during 2025 represents a real transition of green building applications that deal with renewable energy, clean water, friendly materials and infrastructure for the human experience from technical tools to a measurable institutional strategy, achieved thanks to constructive cooperation with regional emirates and government agencies, and the professional disclosure that enabled the documentation of national experiences and their confident transfer to regional and international platforms.<He pointed out that the path from 2025 to the end of 2026 will represent a practical bridge linking what has been achieved in numbers to what is targeted to be consolidated before 2030, in a development model that integrates green buildings as a corporate strategy managed by impact, measured by indicators, and implemented through partnerships capable of sustainability.
